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POINT AND PILLOW LACE
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012 with funding from
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library
http://archive.org/details/pointpillowlaces1899shar
''Portrait of the
POINT AND PILLOW
LACE
A SHORT ACCOUNT OF VARIOUS KINDS
ANCIENT AND MODERN, AND HOW
TO RECOGNISE THEM
By A. M. S.
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1899
iVl ^
PREFACE
The object of this little book is to supply to owners
and lovers of Lace some clear information easily
referred to, by means of which they can ascertain the
true name and nature of any particular specimen.
The valuable works of which a list is given on
page xiii, as the authorities consulted, are some of
them, especially the late Mrs. Palliser's History of
Lace, almost exhaustive as to the historical records
on the subject, and they also contain a great deal of
interesting information concerning the various lace
manufactures. Yet the writer has found, in common
she believes with others, that a diligent search
through many volumes and much inquiry of experts
has been necessary before some particular piece of
Lace could be identified, even if in the end that
identification did not appear doubtful.
In the present volume it is hoped that the simple
statements distinguishing the features of each variety
will enable the reader to recognise them readily,
especially as each description is accompanied by an
vi PREFACE
illustration, on as large a scale as the size of the
page will allow, so that the texture of the Laee may
be the more easily seen.
Description alone, however good, without illustra-
tions is very insufficient : this will readily be allowed
by anyone who attempts the task of explaining in
words the nature and peculiarities of any kind of
Lace. Dr. Johnson gives as a definition of "net,"
" a texture woven with intersticial vacuities," and of
" network," " anything reticulated or decussated, at
equal distances, with interstices between the inter-
sections." Where the great lexicographer failed to
make his meaning more intelligible to simple folk,
lesser mortals may well be glad to eke out- their
otherwise insufficient explanations by the help of
the photographer.
One difficulty attendant on the study of Lace must
be mentioned. It is that at various times the same
kinds of Lace were made in different localities, each
imitating the other. Thus Brussels and Alencon
copied Venice, and Italy in turn adopted the " reseau "
ground in imitation of Flanders ; nor is the reason
far to seek. The laws of supply and demand were in
force three hundred years ago as now, and though we
are apt to think of the countries of Europe, before
the days of railways and steamboats, as isolated, yet
PREFACE vii
a very cursory study of history is enough to prove
that it was far otherwise. The number of travellers
was no doubt much less than at present, but the
richer classes were socially in constant communication
with each other everywhere, as is indeed evidenced
by the prevalence of the same fashions in dress
throughout Europe at any given time. No sooner
did the ladies of Paris in the time of Henry the
Fourth adopt the high ruff, than English ladies has-
tened to do the same ; and as soon as the Pillow
laces of Genoa were admired and found suitable to
the falling collars of the succeeding reigns, the lace-
workers of Flanders were quick in learning to
reproduce the style, in this case so exactly, that but
little difference can now be detected between their
work and that of the Italians. Lace also was largely
made in convents and lace -making" was taught in
convent schools ; and the fact that nuns were of all
nationalities helps to account for the cosmopolitan
character of the Art.
It will not be attempted here to decide from what
locality any particular Lace may have come, but
merely to state on good authority to what style it
belongs, and to assist the reader, by a careful de-
scription of its details, to judge for himself or herself
of its character. Of all the decorative works of Art
viii PREFACE
Lace is by far the most perishable ; indeed, it may
be said that the more beautiful the Lace, the more
delicate and more easily destroyed it is.
Much has disappeared long ago, and in the hands
of ignorant owners the little that has lasted till now
is in danger of being finally lost. If, therefore, what
is here written should attract the notice of some who
have taken but small care of their frail possessions,
and have, without scruple, given them over to the
tender mercies of the dressmaker who cuts, or the
washerwoman who tears, and if they should be in-
duced henceforth to pay more heed to these irre-
placeable treasures, the writer will feel that she has
not written in vain on a subject which has long been
one of oreat interest to herself.
She cannot send this little book into the world with-
out expressing her thanks to Mr. Alan Cole, of the
Science and Art Department, South Kensington, for
the help and advice that he has been good enough to
give her on a subject on which he is so well-known an
authority ; also to the kind friends to whom she is
indebted for the loan of many beautiful specimens of
lace here represented. Without such assistance and
encouragement her pleasant task might never have
been accomplished at all. A. M. S.
Ufton Court, July, 1899.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface . . . . . v
List of Illustrations . . xi
Authorities Consulted . . ... xiii
A Glossary of Terms . . xv
CHAPTER I.
Of Lace in General
How to discriminate between Point and Pillow lace — Antiquity of
Lace — Chief centres of lace-making : Venice, Flanders and Alencon.
CHAPTER II.
Of Italian Needle Lace . . ... 14
Styles and periods — Drawn -work — Darned -netting — Cut -work —
Reticella, or Greek Lace — The uses to which such linen Lace was put.
CHAPTER III.
Of Italian Needle Lace {co?itinued) . . . . 31
Punto in Aria — Ruffs — Pattern books — Falling collars — Extravagance
in the use of Lace — Venetian Points — Three periods — Raised Point —
Flat Point — Grounded Venetian Point — Old Burano Point — Revival —
Spanish Lace.
CHAPTER IV.
Of Italian Pillow Lace . . ... 64
Knotted Lace (Macrame) — Origin of Pillow lace — Pillow Guipure —
Mixed Guipure — Genoese Lace — Collar Laces — Plaited Lace — Punto
di Genoa — Punto di Milano — Country Laces — Maltese Lace.
b
x CONTENTS
CHAPTER V.
PAGE
Of French Lace . . . ... 91
Establishment of lace-making at Alencon by Colbert — La Revoke des
Passemens — Earliest Lace made at Alencon (Point de France) — Three
styles of Alencon Lace : Point dArgentan— Old Valenciennes, Fausse
and Vraie — Point de Paris — Lille — Chantilly— Blonde.
CHAPTER VI.
Of Flemish Lace . . . . . . 121
Earliest style Pillow Guipure — Invention of Reseau — Brussels Lace
— Method of work — Peculiarities — Styles — Point d'Angleterre — Point
plat applique — Duchesse — Brussels Needle-point — Point applique
— Point de Gaze — Mechlin, early and later styles — Binche — Ypres —
Antwerp — Trolle Kant.
CHAPTER VII.
Of English and Irish Laces . . . . . 161
Cut-work — Honiton — Styles — Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire —
Irish Laces : Limerick — Carrickmacross — Machine-made lace.
A Summary . . . . ... 191
v
Index . . . . ... 195
XI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Portrait of the Princess Eleonora of Mantua, Pitti Palace, Florence,
by Porbus il Giovane
1. Details of Needle-point lace
2. ,, of Pillow lace
3. Mediaeval Drawn-work
4. Darned netting (lent by Mrs. Lathbury)
5. Cut-work
6. Reticella and Punto in Aria
7. Raised Venetian Point (South Kensington Museum)
8. Rose Point Venetian (South Kensington Museum)
9. Flat Venetian Point (lent by Mrs. Tonge)
10. Coraline Venetian Point (lent by Mrs. Norman Pearson)
11. Grounded Venetian Point (lent by Mrs. Tonge)
12. Old Burano Point
13. Macrame ....
14. Pillow Guipure ....
15. Mixed Guipure ....
16. Genoese Collar Lace
17. Genoese Tape Guipure
18. Milanese Pillow Lace (lent by Mrs. Lovett Cameron)
19. Italian Peasant Lace
20. Maltese Lace ....
21. A Lappet, Point d'Alencon
22. Point d'Alencon, (1) lent by Mrs. Lovett Cameron ; (2)
Mowbray ....
23. Point d'Argentan (lent by Lady Hunter)
24. Old Valenciennes (two specimens)
Frontispiece
PAGE
3
7
17
21
25
29
39
43
47
5i
54
57
65
69
73
77
79
83
85
89
93
lent by
Miss
99
103
107
Xll
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
25. A Lappet, Old Valenciennes (lent by Lady Hunter)
26. Lille and Point de Paris ....
27. Chantilly (lent by Lady Pearson)
28. Blonde (lent by Mrs. Turner)
29. Flemish Guipure, (1) lent by Lady Maxwell Lyte ;
(2) lent by Mrs. Willink
30. Point d'Angleterre ....
31. Point d'Angleterre a brides (lent by Lady Hunter)
32. Brussels Pillow lace : Point Plat applique and Duchesse .
33. Brussels Needle-point : Old and Modern . ,
34. Brussels Needle-point : Point de Gaze
35. Early Mechlin Pillow lace ...
36. Later Mechlin (two specimens ; No. 2 lent by Mrs. Lathbury)
37. Binche (lent by Mrs. Henry Reeve) and old Flemish
38. Antwerp Pot lace (lent by Mrs. Lathbury)
Heading of page, Limerick Lace (lent by Miss Stroud)
39. Old English Sampler (South Kensington Museum)
40. Honiton (two specimens ; No. I lent by Mrs. Crutwell) .
41. Buckinghamshire (two specimens; (1) lent by Mrs. Savill Young
(2) lent by Mrs. Lathbury)
42. Old Lace Chest belonging to Mrs. Forrest
43. Carrickmacross Lace ....
Tailpiece : Old English bobbins belonging to Mrs. Baker and a Lace
token belonging to Mrs. Forrest . . .
PAGE
IO9
III
115
119
123
IjO
*33
137
142
145
149
153
155
159
l6l
I63
I69
174
178
185
190
Xlll
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED
Alan Cole, Ancient Needle-point and Pillow Lace.
Brazza, A Guide to Old and New Lace in Italy.
Catalogue of South Kensington Museum.
Madame Despierres, Hisioire du Point d^Alencon.
Doumert, La Dentelle.
Felkin, Machine-wrought Lace.
Lefebure, Embroidery and Lace.
Mrs. Palliser, History of Lace.
Seguin, La Dentelle.
Mrs. Treadwin, Antique Point a?id Honiton.
The " Quee?i " Lace Book.
Urbani Gheltof, Trattato Storico.
XV
A GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED
Point lace. — From the French " point," a stitch — properly applied
only to Lace made with needle stitches, or Needle-point lace. This
term has been often much misapplied. Neither " Point d'Angleterre,"
nor "Punto di Milano," nor " Honiton Point" are Point laces at all in
the proper sense of the words ; they are Pillow lace.
Pillow lace, or Bone lace, or Dentelle au fuseau, or Merletti a
Piombini, is Lace made on the pillow with bobbins ; hence the English,
French and Italian names, the bobbins being sometimes made of bone
or lead as well as of wood.
Toile. — The substance of the pattern as contrasted with the ground-
work.
Reseau. — The network ground in which the pattern is sometimes set.
Brides. — The slender stalks or ties connecting different parts of the
pattern together when not on a net ground.
Picots. — The knots or thorns which often decorate " brides " and also
the edges of the pattern.
A jours. — The open ornamental work introduced in enclosed spaces.
Cordo7inet. — The thick thread or cord with which the pattern is
often outlined.
Applique denotes when the pattern, either Needlework or Pillow, is
made separately and afterwards sewn on to a net ground.
Guipure. — The cord or gimp sometimes overcast with stitches ;
frequently used for outlining heavy Laces. "Guiper" is an old verb,
meaning to roll round a cord. The term " Guipure " has often been
wrongly applied to various kinds of Lace. It is here used to denote
only Lace of which the pattern consists of a cord or tape connected
by "brides."
POINT AND PILLOW LACE
CHAPTER I.
OF LACE IN GENERAL.
The English word Lace is taken from the French
" Lacis," a term however, which, when properly used,
denotes only the Italian work " Punto a maglia," or
Darned netting.
There are two distinct kinds of Hand-made lace;
first, Lace made with the needle, that is, Needle-point
lace, under which heading the above - mentioned
Darned netting may be included, and secondly,
Lace made on a pillow with bobbins, that is, Pillow
lace.
Machine-made lace will be treated of in a separate
section later on, and is not now therefore taken into
account.
In order to distinguish between Needle-point and
Pillow lace, and to decide to which of the two
classes any particular specimen belongs, both the
B
2 OF LACE IN GENERAL
"toile"^ or solid part of the pattern and also the
grounding, whether of " brides " or of network, should
be closely examined.
In Needle-point lace the solid parts are always
made of rows of looped, or so-called button -hole
stitches, sometimes quite closely worked, as in the
specimen given in Fig. i, Illustration I., sometimes
looser or with small open spaces left in patterns; still
the stitch used is always the same.
The "brides" in Needle-point consist of one or
two threads fastened across from one part of the
pattern to another and then closely whipped or
button-holed over ; they are usually more or less
decorated with "picots," made much in the same
manner as the "bride" itself. (See Fig. 5, Illustra-
tion I.)
But Needle-point is also sometimes grounded with
" reseau " or network, and still this when examined
will be found to be made with the same stitch. The
meshes of the network are merely loose looped
stitches ; sometimes the needle is twisted a second
time in each stitch to keep the mesh open, as in
F*ig. 2, Illustration I. ; sometimes the work is
strengthened with a second thread, which is whipped
* For an explanation of all technical terms used throughout this
book see Glossary, p. xv.
Illustration I.
DETAILS OF NEEDLE-POINT LACE,
MAGNIFIED.
I. Toile of Needle-point. 2. Reseau of Brussels Point.
3. Reseau of Alencon Point. 4. Reseau of Argentan Point.
5. Unfinished specimen of Cut-work or Reticella.
DETAILS OF NEEDLE AND PILLOW LACE 5
over all along the row at the base of the meshes, as
in Fig. 3, Illustration I.
Thus it will be seen that though other stitches
were employed in the earlier linen lace-work, such
as Drawn-work, Cut-work and Reticella (see Fig. 5,
Illustration I.), yet for true Needle-point lace, with
all its beautiful varieties of design and ornament,
one stitch alone sufficed, namely, what we have called
the looped or button-hole stitch, in Italian " Punto
a festone."
Pillow lace, when carefully examined, will be
found to be constructed in a fundamentally different
manner. The " toile " will in every case be seen to
be composed of threads crossing each other more or
less at right angles, and in and out like the texture
of cambric or other woven cloth. This is shown in
Fig. 1, Illustration II.
The "brides," when made on the pillow, consist
of twisted or plaited threads, and the " picots " of
simple loops ; it should, however, be remarked that
"brides" worked with the needle are often added
to Pillow-made lace, which is then called " Mixed
lace," and in that case they will be seen to be made
of button-hole stitch as above described.
The "reseau" work of Pillow lace is much more
varied than that of Needle-point ; the specimens
6 OF LACE IN GENERAL
given in Illustration II. by no means exhaust all the
varieties, though the peculiar "reseaux" of the best-
known Laces are there given. Thev will be described
in connection with each kind later on. It is sufficient
here to say that in all Pillow lace the network is made
by twisting and plaiting the threads, sometimes in
twos and sometimes in fours, as the case may be.
Thus, roughly speaking, the broad difference between
Point and Pillow lace is that the first is worked
throughout with looped stitches, and the second is
made with twisted or plaited threads, which last is in
fact weaving, though the work is done with the hands
and bobbins and not with the loom. Theoreticallv the
difference as here stated is very simple, yet it must
be allowed that practically in the case of very fine
Lace it is not alwavs at first sight easv of detection,
and for a beginner at all events it may be often
difficult to recognise the above-described details
except with the aid of a magnifying glass ; when
once these are seen, however, it should be easv for
anvone to make the distinction between Pillow and
Xeedle- point lace, and also, following the further
descriptions given later on, to identify any special
specimen. What has been said above does not
apply to Darned netting, which, being usually
coarse, does not require special description here.
Illustration II.
DETAILS OF PILLOW-LACE,
MAGNIFIED.
&v< .Mil. . ' ^ I
^.» ..... «,iA
Vi* *"* *.• *V
E&
I
Iffigj
tern
m.x
Ik >!♦:
i. Toile of Pillow-lace.
3. Re'seau of Brussels Pillow-lace.
5. Reseau, called "Cinq Trous."
7. Reseau of Valenciennes. -
2. Open Toile of Brussels Pillow-lace.
4. Reseau of Mechlin.
6. Reseau of Lille.
8. Reseau, called "Fond Chant" or
7 ' Point de Paris."
ANTIQUITY OF LACE 9
Having been able, with some confidence, to identify
any particular specimen, whether it is Point or Pillow
lace, or Venetian, French or Flemish in style, the
further question is often asked, " How old do you
think that piece of Lace is ? "
There are several indications that will help to
answer that inquiry. We know of certain styles of
Lace that they were invented at a certain time, and
that they were worn during certain periods, and in
this connection contemporary portrait art is of great
service and interest. Moreover, it is generally found
to be the case that the style of design at each centre
of the lace-making art went through a definite and
very easily traced course of development. The Lace
made at Alencon or Mechlin during the seventeenth
century, for instance, was very noticeably different in
the style of the patterns from what was produced
in the eighteenth century, and it was the same else-
where. In fact the same laws seem to have
governed Art in every direction, and as Architecture
passed through various styles which can be recog-
nised and apportioned to different periods, so also
in its degree did the Art of lace-making.
In the illustrations given further on the carefully
selected representative collection of the various
styles will, it is hoped, be found useful in assisting
c
io OF LACE IN GENERAL
the student to classify any Lace that may come under
notice.
Yet the matter, it must be confessed, is somewhat
complicated by the fact that some styles of Lace
continued to be produced during long periods of
time, even after later fashions were developed.
Cut-work in particular was made with very little,
if any, change in the style of design during two
or even three centuries ; and in the case of the
simpler kinds of Pillow lace, the parchment patterns
on which it was made were often treasured and
handed down from one generation of lace -workers
to another ; one family, from mother to daughter,
confining themselves to working a few patterns only,
which they naturally continued to make as long as
there was a demand for them. This is the case at
the present day with the manufacture of modern
Valenciennes at Ypres and in the neighbourhood.
But with these exceptions a study of the construction
and style of design of any particular piece of Lace
should afford a fair indication of the date of its
production.
No indication has been left us to show that what
we now call Lace was known at all in Greek and
Roman times, and it is rather curious that the fable
of Arachne turned into a spider because she rivalled
EARLIEST RECORDS u
Athene in the delicacy of her needlecraft should
have been invented, when no such work as could be
said to approach to the fineness of a spider's web
was practised till so many centuries later.
Lace, as we now understand it, belongs, like music,
essentially to modern times ; and taking into account
its extreme fragility, it may be said that probably no
Lace now existing is older than three hundred years,
and that but little of such fine or open Lace as can be
used for articles of dress is more than two hundred
years old.
The earliest supposed record existing of its practice
is in a picture by Quintin Matsys in the church of
St. Peter Louvain (date 1495), in which a girl is
represented working at a lace-pillow, though it is not
possible to identify the kind of Lace upon which she
is engaged. Until the middle of the sixteenth century,
that is before the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in
England at all events, Lace as applied to dress does
not appear at all in the portraits of the day. The
ladies of Henry the Eighth's court, painted by
Holbein, wore plain linen head-dresses and un-
trimmed frills at the neck and wrists.
It is interesting in our National Portrait Gallery
to be able to see almost the exact time of the
introduction of this beautiful Art. Queen Mary
12 OF LACE IN GENERAL
Tudor, as there represented, though handsomely
dressed, wears linen cuffs embroidered but bare of
Lace, not yet then in use, but in the picture next to
her in date, already a little lace edging appears
round the ruff, and in the portraits of Elizabeth
and her courtiers ruffs and Lace too-ether have QTown
rampant.
And if we cannot attribute a very early date for
the invention of the Art of lace-making, neither was
it in its perfection of long duration ; it suffered much
from the rage for simplicity born of the doctrines of
J. J. Rousseau in the eighteenth century, and was
practically extinguished by the troubles of the French
Revolution and by the classical fashions in dress
which succeeded them under the Empire.
In France the manufacture of rich Needle lace
has to some extent recovered itself. Within the
last fifteen or twenty years also great efforts have
been made to revive the Art in Venice, and schools
have been established in the island of Burano in the
neighbourhood. In Belgium neither needle nor
pillow lace-making were ever, even in war .time,
altogether discontinued, but the character of the
Lace has been essentially altered. Owing also to
the increased cost of labour, such modern Lace
naturally commands very high prices, and nowadays
CENTRES OF LACE-MAKING 13
when the genius of the inventor has so marvellously
perfected the achievements of steam machinery in
lace-making, and when such Lace can be bought at
astonishingly low prices, it is scarcely to be expected
that any real or considerable revival of the Art should
take place. All the more, since the exquisite work
of former ages is thus practically irreplaceable, must
we value such of it as has been preserved to us,
with the interest of antiquarians, as well as on ac-
count of its intrinsic beauty.
The chief centres of Needle lace - making were
Venice, Brussels and Alencon. Of Spanish-point,
so called, some may have been made in Spain, most
however that goes by that name was certainly
Venetian. The Greek Lace, which is a Cut-work of
geometrical design, though it has often been bought
in the Ionian Islands, was also probably Italian.
Pillow laces of some sort were, at some time or
another, made all over Europe, but nowhere else did
they attain to such beauty as in Flanders, where,
according to some, the Art was invented.
Of Italian laces there are both Needle-point and
Pillow. The former take the precedence in date and also
in point of beauty; the latter came chiefly from Genoa
and the districts in North Italy, as also the varieties
of knotted and plaited Laces to be described later on.
Reticella.
CHAPTER II.
OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE.
In point of design Italian Lace may be classed under
four styles : the Mediaeval, the Geometrical, the
Renaissance, and the Rococo. Such as belongs to
the two first was for the most part worked out of
linen and often combined with embroidery. The
material spun with the old-world distaff, as still to be
seen in the country districts in Italy, and woven
under no great pressure of haste on hand-looms in the
convent or the cottage, was far superior to anything
that can be now procured in purity and strength.
It was unmixed with cotton, that cheaper substance
which so detracts from the durability and quality of
our modern linen manufactures. The specimens of
14
STYLES OF ITALIAN LACE 15
church and household linen preserved to the present
day bear sufficient testimony to the good workman-
ship of the weaver and the excellence of his materials.
The Lace included under the above-mentioned
two earlier styles, namely, the Mediaeval and the
Geometrical, are Drawn-work, Cut-work, Reticella or
so-called Greek Lace, and Lacis or Darned netting.
They were produced chiefly during the sixteenth
century.
The third or Renaissance style expressed itself in
flowing patterns of scroll work, and in a conventional
treatment of flowers and other objects. The Lace
was worked entirely without a linen foundation. Of
this description are all the most beautiful achieve-
ments of the Art in Italy during the seventeenth
century, namely, the splendid Venetian and so-called
Spanish-points.
Lastly came the Rococo style, when boldness and
beauty of design were sacrificed to complexity of detail,
and when natural objects, and especially flowers, were
represented with small regard to symmetry or unity
of composition, but often also with marvellous skill
and fidelity. The Lace produced during the early
part of the eighteenth century in this style, in spite
of an overflowing redundancy of ornament, must still
challenge admiration by the beauty and ingenuity of
16 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
the execution ; but these merits rapidly disappeared,
and the Rococo Lace of a later period became coarse
and inferior in workmanship, while the .patterns
dwindled to stiff and disconnected ornaments, sparsely
set in a " reseau " ground.
After this general account of the styles, as they
succeeded each other, the laces themselves may be
separately described.
PUNTO TIRATO.
{E?ig. Drawn- work.)
This Lace is one of the earliest in point of date,
and may be said to be the orio-in out of which all
future lace- work grew. It is made entirely out of a
loose linen material, the threads of which are, not cut
or pulled out, but merely drawn apart from each other
and closely sewn over, either with silk or linen thread,
thus having the appearance of a network of small
square meshes, which forms the ground of the pattern
left in the plain linen. The design thus grounded
was of necessity angular, but occasionally this
angularity is corrected by means of a silk or linen
thread embroidered like a "cordonnet" along the out-
line on the surface of the work. The whole is
usually in the form of bands, four or five inches
wid'-. edged with a border of the linen embroidered.
o
—
H
o
c
rt
P
K3
D
17
DARNED NETTING 19
The subjects of the designs are often extremely
quaint — horses, dogs, birds, besides mythical animals,
were most ambitiously attempted, as is shown in
Illustration III. The frequency with which repre-
sentations especially of horses occur reminds one
that they are to this day the favourite subject of
popular Art in Venice, where the real animal can never
be seen, and suggests a Venetian origin to these
designs. But work of the kind was also extensively
produced in Spain, and here the designs chosen were
usually Oriental in character, heavy scrolls and ara-
besques suggesting the influence of Moorish taste.
In the Greek islands also this work seems to have
been made, and in this case with strictly classical
patterns, survivals, no doubt, of early Byzantine tra-
ditions. Much the same effect was accomplished by
means of another kind of early Needle-work lace
named-
PUNTO RICAMATO A MAGLIA QUADRA.
(Fr. Lacis, Eng. Darned netting.)
But in this work the ground is supplied by a
netting of either silk or linen thread, made with
knots in the usual way or sometimes with threads
only twisted. The pattern is worked on the netting
with a stitch like darning, and also as a variety with
20 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
an in-and-out stitch like weaving. It appears to
have been much in use for church work for sacred
emblems, as the lamb and the pelican are often met
with, as well as dragons and terrible imaginary
beasts of all sorts. (See Illustration IV.) The work
remained lono- in favour, and in later times reallv
beautiful scroll-like patterns in the Renaissance style
were so executed. In the South Kensington Museum
Collection there are several very gracefully designed
borders to silk table-covers in this work, made both
of white and coloured threads and of silk of various
shades. It is, indeed, surprising to see what an
extremely good effect is thus produced by very
simple means, and it is to be regretted that wThen
this work was revived a little while aoo under the
rather inappropriate name of " Guipure d'Art/' such
very poor patterns should have been preferred to
those of the beautiful Italian work of the kind in
existence. This work has a special interest, because
it introduced into the Art of lace-making the principle
of the looped stitch, which is the common foundation
of all netting and also of all Needle-point lace-work.
Illustration IV.
Darned netting, or Punto ricamato a maglia quadra.
21
EMBROIDERED NEEDLE-LACE 23
PUNTO TAGLIATO
(Fr. Point-coupe, Eng. Cut-work)
is an advance on Drawn- work. It is made by cutting
squares or rectangular spaces out of the linen and
fillinp- them writh needle stitches worked on trans-
verse threads. In this work the patterns are
geometrical, but they are varied by the rich em-
broidery generally worked on such plain spaces of
the linen as were left. The peculiar character of
this embroiderv should be noticed, as shown in
Illustration V. ; the threads composing it are always
laid parallel to either the woof or warp of the
linen foundation, they are never, as in modern satin
stitch, worked diagonally, nor is any padding ever
used underneath the embroidery to raise it.
The construction of this kind of Needle lace will
be easily seen in the unfinished specimen given in
Illustration I., Fig. 5. It will be found to consist of
three different stitches, a looped button-hole stitch,
a close-sewn rope stitch covering one or two threads,
and an in-and-out stitch over two or four threads,
called in Italian " Punto di Genoa." These stitches
are used in Lace worked out of linen, such as Cut-
work and Reticella, and should be carefully noticed
and understood if the beautiful work so called is to be
24 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
properly appreciated. Cut-work, as well as Reticella,
is often misnamed Greek Lace.
RETICELLA, OR GREEK LACE.
This Lace differs from Cut-work in that though it
also is worked out of a linen foundation, the linen
has almost entirely disappeared ; a narrow, double
hemstitched edge at the top and bottom of the band
of Lace is all that is discoverable. The threads left
as the framework of the pattern, dividing it into
square spaces, are covered closely with stitches, and
the rest of the material is altogether cut away. Into
these squares are introduced diagonal lines and circles
and half circles forming very beautiful and intricate
combinations, and enriched with patterns in solid
needlework edged with "picots." This Lace is
frequently called " Greek Lace," principally owing
to the fact that during the English occupation of
the Ionian Islands a great deal of it was found there
and bought by English visitors. There seems little
doubt that it was both made and largely used in
Corfu and the neighbouring islands, but it is never-
theless undoubtedly Italian and not Greek in its style
and origin. It must be remembered that during the
time of its production these Greek islands were in
the possession of the Venetian Republic, colonised
Illustration V.
v;s%\,
- />> %
'4 ■£
* » * »
Cut-work, or Punto tagliata.
25
GOLD AND SILVER LACE 27
by Venetians and in constant communication with
the mother city ; it is not therefore surprising that
this Italian Lace should have been imported, imitated
and have become naturalised there. At any rate
there is no distinctive character either of pattern or
execution by which the Lace, even though bought in
the Ionian Islands, can be distinguished from Italian
Reticella.
The Needlework laces of different kinds described
in this chapter, though in use during the fifteenth
and the early part of the sixteenth century, were not
employed for decoration of dress. It is true that of
Lace so used mention is found in records dating as far
back as the coronation of Richard the Third, but such
Lace seems to have been of silk or of gold or silver,
and would be what we should now call braid. It may
be remarked that the word Lace has survived to the
present day in this sense, the gold and silver braid
now used for uniforms being- still so called.
Cut-work and other linen Laces were used to
decorate church and household linen of every kind.
During the long leisure of convent life skilful hands
were continually employed in providing for the
adornment of church furniture with needlework both
of silk and linen thread, and almost universally in
well-to-do households the ladies of the family took
28 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
pride in seeing that their household linen was orna-
mented in the same manner. Tablecloths, sheets,
pillow-cases and towels made usually of home-spun
linen were worked with borders of this kind, a
practice which, as is well known, has continued,
especially on the Continent, till within the present
century. All this, however, now belongs to the
past ; the Lace has been bought up by the ubiquitous
modern tourist after having beeir cut off in strips,
for sale, from the linen out of which it was made,
and but little of it now remains in its original con-
dition to explain the purpose for which it was worked.
Yet the linen-made Laces of Reticella and Cut-work
are singularly well suited for the decoration of
table and especially of church linen, and it is surpris-
ing that among all the many modern sorts of fancy-
work these have not found more frequent imitators.
The stitches are, as has been said, very simple, and
the work is not too fine for ordinarily good eyesight.
The Lace when completed is so good and rich in
effect, and so strong for wear, that it can but be
wished that fashion will some day inspire industrious
and neat-fingered English needlewomen to emulate
the beautiful performances of Italian ladies of the
sixteenth century.
Illustration VI.
Reticella with Punto in Aria border.
29
Punto in Aria.
CHAPTER III.
OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE.
( Continued . )
A time came when the restraints imposed on design
by the linen foundation were found to be irksome,
and it occurred to some innovator to dispense with
it altogether and to construct the pattern on threads
fastened on parchment in any form that fancy might
dictate. This was the beginning of " Punto in Aria,''
literally "stitches in the air"; that is, without any
foundation of linen ; and it was by development of
this principle that all the subsequent beautiful Needle-
points of Italy were made.
At first geometrical forms, which had been of
necessity in Cut-work, were still adhered to, though
31
32 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
a greater variety of ornament was found possible.
Then a pointed edge was worked on threads laid
down in the required shape, and the spaces were filled
in with patterns of solid or open-work loop stitch-
ing executed in an excellent manner, and " brides
picotees " were added to connect and strengthen
the parts.
A specimen is shown in Illustration VI. of two
squares of Reticella with " Punto in Aria" Vandykes
attached. The Reticella will be seen to be bordered
by a narrow double line of hemstitch, showing that
it is worked out of a piece of linen ; but the
vandyke is independent of such foundation. The
open Medicis ruff and the cuffs worn by the little
Princess of [Mantua, as seen in the frontispiece,
are of the same kind, namely, a band of Reticella
edged with the "Punto in Aria" vandvkes. The
date of the picture is about 1600.
This introduction of "Punto in Aria" marks a
very considerable development in the uses to which
Lace was applied. No sooner did this new style
of Lace appear, as we may judge from the portraits of
the day, than it seems to have taken the world
of fashion by storm. Plain linen collars and head-
dresses were relegated to widows and waiting-maids,
and Reticella, hitherto only found serviceable for
ELIZABETHAN RUFFS 33
coarse table-linen, was, in combination with the new
edging, and worked in fine lawn, lavished upon cuffs
and aprons and the ruffs that grew to the preposterous
dimensions with which we are familiar in the pictures
of Queen Elizabeth and her courtiers. These were
worn both round and also of the open shape shown
in the frontispiece ; both shapes seem to have been
in fashion together, judging by the well-known
picture by Marc Gerrardo representing the state
progress of the Queen on her way to pay a visit
to Lord Hunsdon, and in which she is surrounded
by the ladies and gentlemen of her court, the former
wearing some one shaped ruff and some another.
This picture was engraved by Vertue, and is of
great interest as a record of the costumes of the
time.
Of Queen Elizabeth's ruffs much mention is made
in the lists of new year's gifts that she was in the
habit of receiving from her courtiers. Besides gold
and jewellery from the gentlemen, and embroideries,
silks, and gifts of all sorts from the ladies, these
latter presented her yearly with " ruffes with rabatines
of lawne cut-work" and sets of cuffs, both made and
unmade ; sometimes the " lawne cut-work " was set
with seed pearls, and sometimes edged with gold, or
silver, or Bone, that is, Pillow lace. For the ruffs,
F
34 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
one cannot but wonder at the skill of the starcher
who, even with the aid of a wire frame, could stiffen
so large a surface of such delicate materials so as to
make them retain the required shape even for a few
hours of a damp. English day. But it is on this
account that we have now to depend almost entirely
on the pictorial art for our information about them.
Starch and constant wear have been too much for
the fine "lawne cut-work," and ' lace-trimmed ruffs
have, with scarcely any exception, long since perished
with their wearers.
It is at this point that the large collection of
pattern books which have been preserved to us from
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are of great
interest. They became possible after the art of
printing became popular, and they range in point
of date from the Livre nouveau> published in Cologne
in 1527, to the M et ho de pour f aire une infinite" de
desseins par le Rev. Pcre Sebastien Tnicket, published
in Paris in 1722.
A list of these books, preserved in various
European libraries, is to be found in the Appendix
to Mrs. Palliser's History of Lace. A few original
copies are in the National Art Library, South
Kensington, and a considerable number of such as
were of Venetian origin have been recently re-
PATTERN BOOKS 35
produced in modern facsimile editions by that
energetic publisher, Signor Oncagnia, of Venice.
These can be seen and studied in the library of
the British Museum, so that this interesting subject
is now brought within easy reach of the English
student.
The earliest of these books refer to embroidery in
pfold and silver and silks, as well as in thread. In
1548, one published in Venice by Mathio Pagan, 77
specchio di pensieri delle belle e virtudiose donne
("the mirror of the thoughts of beautiful and
virtuous ladies"), gives patterns of " punti tagliati,"
" punti gropposi e punti in Stuora " — Cut-work,
Knotted-work, and Embroidered netting. Ten years
later, in 1558, the same author brought out La gloria
et r honor e di punti tagliati e punti in aere (" the glory
and the honour of Cut-work and Open-work"). And
this allusion to "punto in Aria" is very interesting as
fixing the date of the introduction of so important
an innovation in lace-making.
The early style of these patterns is narrow and
wiry, corresponding closely to the edgings of the
frills shown in contemporary pictures ; but soon
the designs become richer and wider, and being
worked in finer thread than that formerly used for
the old linen lace-work, and combined with bands of
36 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
Reticella, produce a very handsome as well as light
and open effect.
In James the First's reign some concession was
made to comfort, and the same fluted and starched
ruff was allowed to fall towards the shoulders instead
of standing out round the head; then suddenly the full
frill crave way to the " Col rabattu," the lar^e falling
collar with the lace border of Charles the First's time
so familiar to us in Vandyke's ' portraits of that
monarch.
But to return to " Punto in Aria" and its develop-
ments. The various Laces which owe their invention
to this origin are known to us as Point lace. The
ore at distinction between them and the Lace we have
hitherto considered is that Point lace is worked with
button-hole stitch alone (in Italian, "Punto a festone").
In the preceding Laces, as shown in Illustration I.,
Fig. 5, sewing over, rope stitch, and the in-and-out
stitch called " Punto di Genoa" are also used, but in
the later Point lace these are discarded and the Lace
is made entirely with button-hole stitch, close or
open. All the beautiful and varied effects we so
much admire are produced by this alone.
Lace so worked had its origin and chief centre in
Venice, and it is to be remarked that like our own
English manufactures, it was brought to perfection
VENETIAN POINT 37
not bv any State encouragement such as government
schools or protective duties, but rather in spite of
sumptuary laws, and by the enterprise and artistic
instincts of private citizens. It culminated in the
splendid Lace known in French and English by many
names, but called in Italian collectively " Punto
tagliato a foliami," or simply " Punto di Venezia."
This Lace had an astonishing success in Italy and
also in Spain and France. In the latter country
especially enormous quantities of it were lavished on
the dress both of men and women. Owing, as it is
said, to the long curls of the young King Louis the
Fourteenth, falling collars had gone out of fashion,
ponderous wigs were worn by the courtiers in
imitation of the King's natural locks, and, to suit
the new style of coiffure, cambric neckties with
falling ends of the richest Venetian Point lace
were adopted. And not only so was this Lace used,
but the gentlemen's sleeve cuffs, the ends of their
waist scarves, the canons or frills half a yard in
width which finished the short breeches of the day,
the rosettes of their shoes, and even the tops of
their high leather boots, were most inappropriately
decorated in the same manner.
The ladies wore the beautiful "Punto di Venezia"
on their caps, their sleeves, and their aprons, besides
$S OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
using it, as we see in contemporary pictures, to trim
their dinner table-covers and pillow-cases, and even as
coverlets for their beds, where, it must be remembered,
they used to hold receptions of their friends, male
and female. For church purposes it was also largely
used. There is a superb altar frontal at the South
Kensington Museum made entirely of Venetian Point,
and in a case close by it a cardinal's alb of pleated
linen, trimmed with a flounce half a yard in wTidth of
the finest " Punto tagliato a foliami," or Rose Point.
In England we have the evidence of the actual
Lace worn by Charles the Second himself — and it is
still preserved on his funeral effigy in Westminster
Abbey — to prove to us that the finest Venetian Point
was also in fashion here. The Lace is very beautiful,
now mouldering away into dust and ashes together
with a truly strange collection, mementoes of bygone
rank and splendour.
Venetian Point is variously called Raised Venetian
Point or Gros Point de Venise, also Rose Point,
Carnival Lace, Cardinal's, and sometimes even Pope's
Point, Point Plat de Venise, Point d'Espagne or
Guipure, and all these names have been used some-
what indiscriminately. For the two last Guipure de-
notes Lace made with braid, or tape, or gimp,
and is not in any way applicable to fine Needle-
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39
VENETIAN POINT 41
point. Point d'Espagne is clearly a misnomer for
work which, though it may have been occasion-
ally produced in Spain under Italian influence, was
certainly of Venetian origin. On this more will be
said under the head of Spanish Lace. For the rest,
as it is certain that different stages of development
and decline can be observed in the history of
Venetian Lace, and having explained that the names
usually employed are not always clearly separable,
it has been thought best here to make use only of
such names as will serve to mark the distinction
between three separate stages in point of date and
stvle of the Lace known as a whole as " Punto
tagliato a foliami " or Venetian Point.
We would class them thus :—
t. Venetian Raised Point (Fr. Gros Point de
Venise), under which head we include the variety
called Rose Point.
2. Venetian Flat Point (Fr. Point Plat de Venise),
with its later variety which, from its appearance, we
would call Coraline Point.
3. Grounded Venetian Point (Fr. Point de Venise
a reseau), and in this class we include " Punto di
Burano," so called from the island, near Venice, where
it was made ; the last and final stage of the Art at the
close of the eighteenth century.
42 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
RAISED POINT, OR GROS POINT DE VENISE.
The principal distinctions of Raised Venetian Point
are : First, the boldness and continuity of the designs,
which sometimes extend throughout a whole piece of
Lace; Secondly, the "cordonnet," which is very promi-
nent. It is thickened in parts by the addition of
sheaves of thread closely overcast with button-hole
stitches, and often edged with rows of " picots."
The Lace is held together by " brides," but only so
far as is necessary for strength, the "bride "-work
forming no essential part of the general design. The
splendid specimen reproduced in Illustration VII. is
in the South Kensington Museum, and forms part
of the unrivalled collection of Lace bequeathed to the
nation by the late Mrs. Bolckow. Such Lace has been
fitly called the crowning triumph of the work of the
needle. The freedom and beautv of the design are
as remarkable as the exquisite delicacy and variety
of the details and the perfect skill of their execution.
An Italian poet is said to have described such work
as 4; scolpito in relievo " (sculptured in relief). The
words remind one that Venetian Lace in its prime
was produced when manual skill had reached its
highest point and went hand in hand with the
heaven-born instinct of beauty ; when, in fact, the
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43
ROSE POINT 45
spirit of the Renaissance had infused life and vigour
into every form of Art throughout Italy, and when
the workers in gold and enamel, in wood and iron,
and even in silk and linen thread, were artists as well
as the sculptor and the painter. Such periods are
short-lived.
ROSE POINT.
The distinctions to be drawn between this and
the preceding Lace are not very marked ; the style
is modified, not changed. The designs are com-
posed on a smaller scale, enriching ornament is
more abundant, and the groundwork of "brides"
becomes a more important element in the whole
effect. These are now further decorated not only
with "picots" but also with numerous little whirls
and rosettes, and hence perhaps the name of Rose
Point. The specimen shown in Illustration VII L
is also, like the preceding, taken from the Bolckow
bequest in the South Kensington Museum, and is a
singularly rich example. Here the raised "cordonnet"
is edged not only with one but with two and three
rows of loops and "picots," till the effect produced is
almost that of snow-flakes, on which account such Lace
is sometimes called " Point de nei^e." Rose Point is
later in style than the " Gros Point de Venise."
46 ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
FLAT VENETIAN POINT.
The name of this Lace denotes the difference of
its character. The raised work is here altogether
absent, the designs, though often very graceful and
well composed, as is the case with the specimen
shown in Illustration IX., are more attenuated than
in Raised Point, while the " brides," as in Rose
Point, are an important feature in the general effect.
The manner in which the work was executed was
the same in all three. The piece of parchment on
which the pattern was drawn out was tacked upon
some thick, soft cloth, then a coarse thread or cord
was sewn down along the outline through both the
parchment and the cloth together. The scroll-work
or flowers of the pattern were then filled in with
button-hole stitches, as shown in Fig. i, Illustra-
tion L, either close or open, and finally the "brides"
were added to hold the parts of the pattern together,
and when the work was completed a sharp knife was
passed between the parchment and cloth to cut the
stitches which held down the outline cord and so to
free the finished Lace without any risk of injuring it.
A later style of Flat Venetian Point is one that we
venture to name on account of its strong resemblance
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47
VENETIAN POINT 49
to the delicate fretwork of fine coral growths, and
also because of the story that is told of its origin,
CORALINE POINT.
It is said that a young girl, a lace - worker in
Venice, received as a parting gift from her sailor lover
when he left her to wait for his return, a branch of
coral ine, and she, looking at it and thinking of him
while at her work, considered how she could imitate
it with her needle. She tried, and the result was so
charming that she speedily found imitators, and the
Lace became one of the most favourite in use.
This Lace is often specially called "Venetian Point,"
and rightly so, for whereas the "Point Plat" and the
" Gros Point" have been copied both in Spain and
France, this Lace, whose origin is a gift from the
sea, has never been produced elsewhere than on
the shores of the Adriatic. But beautiful and
wonderful as it is, it must be considered as a decline
from the earlier styles. Very little connected pattern
is to be traced in it at all, and what there is is often
shapeless and angular. There is little or no raised
work ; the ground of " brides picotees," though well
distributed, is without method in its arrangement and
the shape of the meshes. It has, in fact, the effect
of a tangle — a work of nature rather than of Art,
H
50 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
charming for its delicate workmanship, and for the
very reason of its confusion. But the finest Art has
never been considered to be the mere imitation of
the free growth of natural plants or animals, its
object is rather to generalise and idealise nature, and
to express and suggest, through the representation of
things familiar to us, the higher spirit of symmetry
and harmony, and that sense of ideal beauty which
is the peculiar gift of artistic genius.
The third and last stage of Venetian Lace is the
GROUNDED POINT.
(Fr. Point de Venise a reseau.)
Till about the middle of the seventeenth century
there was an almost insatiable demand for Venetian
Lace at the French Court, and the supply seems to
have been abundant ; but when the manufactures
of Alencon and the neighbourhood were started,
encouraged by the King, and protected by pro-
hibitive duties against the importation of Italian
Lace, the profits of the Venetian lace-makers fell off
considerably. It was then that, in the hope of
retaining their foreign customers, they learnt a
lesson from their supplanters, and in imitation of
the manufactures of Alencon they adopted the
Illustration X.
Venetian Point (Coraline), or Punto cli Venezia.
51
Illustration XL
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J ' ■.%*■■ ' ; '.-■■'* v'v;.$..
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■
Grounded Venetian Point.
54
GROUNDED VENETIAN POINT 55
"reseau" ground. The style of the "r&eau" is
much the same as the French, though the mesh
is rounder and does not fall into lines across the
Lace as with Alencon and Burano. It is composed,
however, of double twisted threads throughout, as
Fig. 3, Illustration I. This Lace differs further from
Alencon in that the pattern is not outlined with any
" cordonnet." Venetian Grounded Point is a very
beautiful piece of work, exquisitely fine, delicate and
graceful (see Illustration XL), yet in point of style
it falls under the strictures passed on the Rococo
period, inasmuch as it often suffers from a redundancy
of ill-arranged decoration.
The variety and abundance of the ornamental "a
jours " are especially to be noticed. These are far too
numerous to be described, but a zigzag ornament
may be specified as very characteristic. The pattern
usually includes the representation of lilies and other
natural flowers, and the edge of the Lace is generally
in the form of a shallow scollop, arranged so as to
form part of the design.
This Lace was produced during the latter half of
the eighteenth century ; then came the end, when
the storm of the French Revolution burst upon
Europe and overwhelmed the Venetian Republic in
its course. Rich patrons had then to think of saving
56 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
their lives and what they could of their property,
and no longer bought Lace, and the poorer classes
learnt by experience that to kill the goose who lays
the golden eggs is not the way to prosperity.
Yet the manufacture survived for a little while
longer in the island of Burano, near Venice, and as
late as the beginning of the nineteenth century a
needle-made Lace, insignificant irr pattern and coarse
in execution, was still made there by native workers.
Mrs. Palliser, in her History of Lace, published in
1864, gives an illustration of a specimen of Burano
Lace which she savs had been bought of an old
woman, the maker, one Ceccia la Scarpariola, the
last survivor of the lace-making industry, and she
adds, "Venice Point is now no more."
This same Ceccia or Cencia wras still older when
in 1872 an unusually severe winter reduced the
inhabitants of Burano to great straits of poverty.
The population was at the time entirely dependent
on fisherv for the means of existence, and when
the canals and lagoons wrere for weeks covered with
ice, wholesale starvation seemed imminent. Their
distress came to the knowledge of a M. Paulo
Fambrij who made an appeal to the charitable
throughout Italy for help. The King and Queen
and the Pope gave the example, and a considerable
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57
REVIVAL OF BURANO LACE 59
sum was raised, part of which was immediately
spent in alleviating" the distress, and with what
remained, as a more permanent source of help and
comfort to these poor people, a school was started
in which it was hoped that the lost Art of lace-
making, so profitable in the past, might be revived
for theii* benefit. Cencia Scarpariola was then
seventy years of age, and was the only living
person who remembered or could show how the
work was done, and she, from old age and infirmity,
was incapable of teaching. However, nothing
daunted, some Venetian ladies, headed by the
Countess Adriana Marcello, who eventually assumed
the whole management of the affair, succeeded in
finding an intelligent worker who could learn only
by seeing the old woman at her needle, and she in
turn taught others. Keeping at first to the old
Burano style, and afterwards copying from patterns
and designs which were most kindly lent by Her
Majesty the Queen of Italy and others, the school
has at length been able to produce Lace of various
kinds, but little inferior to the best of the Venetian
triumphs of former days.
In Needle-point lace the Burano girls now repro-
duce Raised Venetian Point, Point d'Argentan, and
d'Alencon, and old Brussels, as well as the peculiar
60 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
Burano Lace of their native island. Thus a beautiful
Art has been successfully saved from oblivion, and
as the lace-makers are able to earn what to those
simple folk is very good wages, the means of
subsistence of the population is very considerably
increased, and comfort and good morals are the
satisfactory results.
In an account of Venetian lace -making, written
by Urbani Gheltof, published in Venice, and trans-
lated into English by Lady Layard, a very detailed
description, accompanied by diagrams, is given of the
mode of execution of Burano Point.
From this it appears that it is usually worked on
a pillow, not however, of course, with bobbins as
for pillow-lace. The object of the pillow or bolster
is merely to raise the work to a suitable height on
the lap of the lace-maker and to diminish the
necessity of much handling. On the middle of
the upper side of the pillow there rests a small
wooden cylinder across which the parchment pattern
is stretched, leaving an open space under it for the
convenience of the worker; thus the strip ot Lace
is kept smooth and flat. In working the " reseau ';
''round a thread is fixed straight across the whole
width of the Lace as a foundation for each row of
meshes, being passed through and fastened to any
MODERN BURANO LACE 61
sprig or part of the pattern which may intervene,
and on this thread the looped meshes are worked.
The result is the formation of a remarkably square-
shaped mesh, and by this, and also by the streaky
and cloudy appearance of the " reseau," Burano
Point may be recognised ; the latter effect is owing
to unevenness in the quality of the thread. Burano
also differs from Alencon in that its " cordonnet " is
not overcast or covered with button-hole stitch, but
is only stitched down round the outline. In the
matter of design the patterns are generally, as in the
illustration, small and floral, the "reseau" ground
being sprinkled with leaflets or blossoms ; but Alencon
patterns of a late period were also often copied, so
that the quality of the "reseau," and especially the
heavy thread "cordonnet," should be chiefly relied
upon rather than the pattern as marking the differ-
ence between the two kinds of Lace.
For the benefit of visitors to Venice it may be
added that the Burano Lace schools, under the
patronage of the Queen of Italy, are in the Palazzo
Municipale, opposite the church in the principal
Piazza in the island, and that they will well repay a
visit. Lace-making can be better understood by being
seen than by even the most careful of descriptions.
62 OF ITALIAN NEEDLE LACE
OF SPANISH LACES.
These are included in the present chapter on
account of the frequent misuse of the terms
" Spanish Point" and ''Point d'Espagne" applied to
Italian Laces. As in the case of the Brussels Lace
known as 'l Point d'Angleterre," names may be in
common use and yet not always safe guides. With
regard to Spanish Lace it seems difficult to be sure
of the facts of the case.
It is certain that great quantities of Lace that we
should describe as Raised Venetian Point were used
in Spain both for the dress of the Court and also
especially for the adornment of the church vestments,
altars, and images of saints. During the French in-
vasion, when churches and monasteries were freely
pillaged, these treasures were scattered over the world,
and on this account, if for no other reason, were sold
in the market as " Spanish Lace." But it is also prob-
ablv true that Lace of the kind was made in the con-
vents of Spain, where nuns from Italy would naturally
teach and introduce an Art so much in request. To
judge, however, by style where the actual nationality
oi the work seems doubtful, it is clear that there is
no sufficient difference to mark "Point d'Espagne"
as a really distinct Lace from Venetian Point.
SPANISH LACE 63
The Lace known for certain to be of Spanish
production is a coarse pillow Guipure both of white
thread and also of o-old and silver. This is a loose
fabric made of three " cordonnets," the centre one
being the coarsest, held together with finer threads
running in and out across them, and with "brides"
to connect and keep the pattern in shape.
Black and wThite Blonde has during this century
been also much made in Catalonia for that graceful
national head-dress, the mantilla, but it is not at all
equal in quality to similar Lace made in the north of
France, of which more will be said further on. In
fact Spaniards, though they have always been very
good customers for the Lace of other countries, do
not appear at any time to have been great Lace
producers.
Genoese Plaited Lace.
CHAPTER IV.
OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE.
Before entering into details concerning Lace that will
fall under the above description, some mention must
be made of a decorative work of very ancient origin,
namely :
PUNTO A GROPPO, OR KNOTTED LACE.
(Now known as Macrame.)
This must be considered as a very early form of
Pillow lace, being made with interlaced threads on a
pillow, though by knotting and not by plaiting as
in the modern Pillow lace. It no doubt grew out
of the knotted fringes that we see represented in
Byzantine mosaics, or it may claim a still earlier origin
in the same fringes as represented in ancient Assyrian
sculpture. During the sixteenth century much of this
work was produced in Genoa, but the effect was
necessarily stiff and heavy and was not found suitable
for other than church and household purposes.
64
Illustration XIII.
K
Macrame, or Punto a Groppo.
65
ORIGIN OF PILLOW LACE 67
The specimen shown in Illustration XIII. was
bought in Italy some fifty years ago, but the work
since then has been introduced into this country,
and so many books of patterns and directions have
been published that any detailed description of it
seems unnecessary here. The name " Macrame," by
wmich it has been known to us, is as modern as its
revival ; it comes from an Arabic word signifying an
ornamental trimming.
It is interesting to notice that as we have seen
that the looped stitch of netting was the first starting-
point of the needlework button-hole stitch, with which
all Point laces are made, so we may consider these
knotted fringes as the beginning from which all the
future Pillow lace work was developed.
Great rivalry exists between Italy and Belgium as
to which of the two may claim the merit of the
invention of Pillow lace. While Belgium, as we
have seen, can refer to the picture by Ouintin
Matsys of the girl with the Lace pillow as a proof
that the Art existed in the north as early as the
end of the fifteenth century, Italy can show on her
part the pattern -book for Pillow lace -making pre-
served in the Museum of the Arsenal at Venice,
entitled, Le Pompe, and dated 1557, and if this later
date should be quoted as antagonistic to her conten-
68 OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE
tion, it may be fairly allowed that an Art must have
been already some time in existence before it could
have created a literature.
M. Seguin, favouring the Italian view, is of opinion
that the Art spread from Italy through France to
Belgium by means of travelling pedlars who, journey-
ing slowly across Europe and stopping everywhere on
their road to sell their wares, carried the knowledge
of Lace-making into the Flemish provinces, where the
population was already familiar with, and skilful in, the
manufacture of linen. However that may be, it is
certain that Pillow laces of the Italian sort, known
to us as
PILLOW GUIPURE,
seem to have been amono- the earliest made both in
Flanders and in Italy, and that in style of design
they have a distinctly Italian character. It is this
Lace about which the authorities at South Kensington
decide to be doubtful. One must conclude that they
have good authority for believing that what would
certainly from its appearance pass for Italian Lace
lias actually often been made in Flanders. They have
therefore labelled the cases containing it as " Flemish
or Italian." If a distinctive difference may be
suggested between Lace of the same style of pattern
made in the two countries, it would appear perhaps
>
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PILLOW GUIPURE 71
to be in the quality of the thread. As has been said,
the inhabitants of the Flemish provinces have always
been noted for their superior skill in spinning and
weaving linen, and whether from lack of such skill
or from a difference in national taste, there is no
doubt that Italian Lace generally of all kinds is
heavier and stouter in character than that produced
in the north of Europe. Illustrations XIV. and
XXIX. should be compared.
Pillow Guipure may be described as composed of
a tape, made on the pillow so as to follow the curves
of the pattern and connected by " brides " also made
on the pillow, that is, made of twisted or plaited
threads, not as in Needle lace covered with button-
hole stitches. The "brides" are sometimes orna-
mented with " picots," and the open spaces are filled
in with " a jours," also pillow-worked.
This Lace, though flat, is, from its excellent designs
of a bold Renaissance character and its good work-
manship, often very handsome in appearance.
A variety on this is the mixed Needle and Pillow
lace, called
MEZZO PUNTO.
{Fr. Point de Canaille.)
In this the "a jours" and "brides picotees " are
worked in needle stitches and complete in Point the
72 OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE
pattern traced out with Pillow -made tape. Some-
times this mixed Guipure is grounded with a coarse
needle-made " reseau ': instead of " brides," but
whether so or with "brides," it is too often made
not with tape worked to the pattern on the pillow,
as is the wholly Pillow Guipure, but with a woven
tape made first separately and then tacked on to the
pattern as outlined on parchment ; the result is that
clumsy puckers and folds spoil the turns and curves
of the design, a defect, as we all know, which has
been faithfully copied in the modern revival of the
Lace. Whether owing to this or to the mixture of
methods, or to faults of design, the Mezzo Punto
never has the simple, free effect of the Pillow
Guipure, and is very far from attaining to the
richness of Needle Point.
It has been said, though with what amount of
truth we do not know, that this Lace originated in
Naples, and was meant to supply the poorer folk with
a cheap imitation of the rich Point laces worn by
the Court. There seems no doubt that both mixed
Lace and Pillow Guipure were intended to copy the
Venetian Points, and from being easier to work, and
l< :ss costly to purchase, they gained favour very
rapidly.
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73
COLLAR LACE 75
GENOESE LACE.
(//. Punto di Genoa.)
As Venice was the great centre for Needle-point,
so was Genoa for Pillow lace -making in Italy, and
during the greater part of the seventeenth century
a constant supply was produced in that town and
its neighbourhood of the handsome vandyked and
scolloped border Lace, called from the use to which
it was put, Collar lace. In the pictures of Rubens
and Vandyke we see it frequently represented as
trimming the broad falling linen collars both of men
and of elderly ladies. It can be distinguished from
Flemish Lace, also employed in the same way, by
its greater boldness of design.
The younger ladies also made great use of it as
trimming for the shoulders of their cticolletd dresses,
and also for sleeves, aprons, etc.
COLLAR LACE.
Collar Lace is of two kinds, both of which are
represented in Illustration XVI. That of which
No. 2 is a specimen resembles in principle the Pillow
Guipure already described. A scroll-like pattern, as
of tape, is turned and twisted into forms of con-
76 OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE
siderable elegance which at the same time compose
the deep scollop of the required shape. This Lace is
round and not pointed in its outline. The "whole is
strengthened and connected by short "brides."
PLAITED LACE.
{Fr. Point de Genes frise. It. Merletto a piombini.)
No. I is generally pointed or vandyked in shape,
and is worked in a somewhat unusual manner ; the
Lace is made entirely with plaits of four threads each,
following the design, and with little oval enlargements
resembling ears of wheat, which are sometimes
arranged as beads on a thread and sometimes com-
posed into trefoils or quatrefoils, or spokes radiating
from a common centre.
GENOESE TAPE GUIPURE.
Besides the border Lace chieflv used for trimming
collars which has been already described, a Lace
sometimes known as Tape Guipure is also attributed
to Genoa. A specimen is shown in Illustration XV 1 1,
which will sufficiently explain the name. A con-
voluted tape, but made to its shape on the pillow
with no unseemly puckers or folds, seems to wind
for ever through the design. Great ingenuity is
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77
Illustration XVII.
Genoese Tape Guipure.
79
PUNTO DI MILANO 81
shown in the even and well-balanced distribution of
the pattern, if pattern it can be called, where so
little order or intention can be traced. With the
enrichment of numerous " picots," and also some-
times of ornamental "a jours" filling in the looped
spaces, this Lace has often a very good though
perhaps monotonous effect. It has been much used
for church vestments, and was frequently of con-
siderable width.
PUNTO DI MILANO.
{Eng. Milanese Pillow lace.)
It is needless to say that neither this Lace nor
" Punto di Genoa" are rightly called " Punti " or
Needle - point lace ; they are both made on the
pillow. The name " Punto di Milano " is, however,
so commonly known in connection with it, that it
would be pedantic not to recognise it, though with a
protest. It was like the preceding Laces, of Genoese
origin, but has survived till recent times in Cantii,
near Milan. It is by far the most beautiful, as well
as the best known of Italian Pillow laces. It much
resembles the Genoese Tape Guipure, but with far
less of monotony, and much more of graceful design
in the style of its patterns. In some fine specimens,
such as that represented in Illustration XVIII., coats
M
82 OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE
of arms are often introduced, probably when the
piece of Lace was made by order of some prelate or
personage of noble family ; but as a rule easy-flowing
scroll-work fills up the composition. This is the
only Italian Pillow lace which is grounded with
"reseau," a fact that marks it as relatively late in
point of date.
It is somewhat singular that this "reseau" should
very much resemble that of Valenciennes, having a
diamond-shaped mesh formed with a plait of four
threads (See Fig. 7, Illustration II.), though the
two kinds of Lace are in other respects of totally
different construction. In " Punto di Milano," as will
be easily seen by referring to the illustration, the
pattern is made first on the pillow by itself, and the
"reseau" ground is worked in round it afterwards,
sloping in all directions so as to fit into the spaces ;
while Valenciennes is worked all in one piece on
the pillow, pattern and "reseau" together.
The difference here noticed forms a very marked
distinction between two kinds of Pillow lace, one
of which seems to have originated in the Pillow
Guipures that we have been considering, which in
the case of "Punto di Milano" were afterwards, so
to speak, fitted with a "reseau" ground; the other
kind is represented in Italy by the various peasant
I III S I RATION XVIII.
Milanese Pillow Lace.
83
Illustration XIX.
Italian Peasant Lace (three specimens)
85
PEASANT LACE 87
Laces, of which three specimens are given in
Illustration XIX. These are worked all in one
piece, with one set of threads, forming as it were
the woof and warp of the material. This can be
almost verified by a close examination of the facsimile
print (notice No. 2), though of course more certainly
with the actual Lace. No. 1 is worked in the same
manner as the plaited Genoese Collar lace, that is,
with plaited threads in sets of four. The designs of
these peasant Laces are often very good, though the
thread with which they are made is coarse, and their
general effect thick. They were chiefly used for
household purposes.
Some thirty or forty years ago, before the time
when railroads had become universal in Italy, and
when the traveller was fain to rumble along during
a three or four days' journey in vetturino between
Rome and Florence or Naples, the rough country
inns at which he stopped for the night no doubt
left much to be desired in the way of good food,
cleanliness, and comfort ; but if he could take it as
a consolation, the silk hangings of his bed, his sheets
and pillow-case, his towels and tablecloth, were nearly
sure to be adorned with this strong and probably
home-made country Lace. He soon found, more-
over, that after the indispensable bargaining enjoyed
88 OF ITALIAN PILLOW LACE
by both parties alike, he could, for a very reasonable
consideration, make the Lace his own. So the dirt
and discomfort are forgotten, and the recollection of
the amusing incident, together with the Lace, remains.
It is now no longer made, nor is any more of it to
be bought.
MALTESE LACE.
A notice of this Lace is added to this chapter be-
cause of its very strong resemblance to, and probable
development from, the Genoese manufacture. Mrs
Bury Palliser, in her History of Lace, gives a sketch
of a representation of Lace copied from a Cardinal's
monument in the church of St. John in Valetta,
from which it would seem that the wavy character
of the designs of recent Maltese Lace may possibly
be of ancient origin. But there seems no doubt
that a great improvement took place both in its
designs and execution in consequence of the efforts
of Lady Hamilton Chichester, who, in 1833, brought
lace-workers over from Genoa to teach their craft
in the island. The Lace is made in white thread
and in black and white silk ; in the white silk
specimen shown in Illustration XX. the little wheat-
car ornament so characteristic of Genoa is clearly
seen.
Illustration XX.
X
Maltese Lace (Black and White Silk'
89
Modern Valenciennes.
CHAPTER V.
OF FRENCH LACES,
POINT D'ALENCON.
It is said that Needle-point lace was made at Alencon
as early as 1650 or thereabouts, but though mention
has been found of it by name at that time, it did not
attain to any great perfection or celebrity till the
manufacture was taken up and encouraged by Colbert,
the well-known minister under Louis the Fourteenth.
True to the principles that have governed French
policy in commercial matters to this day, great
jealousy and annoyance had long been felt by the
various ministers of the crown at the large sums of
91
92 OF FRENCH LACES
money yearly spent upon the importation of Venetian
and other Italian Laces, then thought an indispensable
part ot the dress of the Court. Repeated sumptuary
laws were passed to check the trade, but fashion is
stronger than laws, and as, judging by their portraits,
the royal family themselves were among the chief
culprits, these naturally had but little effect. To one
issued in 1660 we owe an amusing satire callel
'* La Revoke des Passemens," passement (Gimp or
Guipure) being the old French word including Lace
and embroideries. The various Laces enumerated,
" Poincts de Genes, de Rao-use, de Venise, d' Angle-
terre et de Flandres," down to the humble " Gueuse,"
the equivalent of the modern Torchon, are supposed
to assemble and to make indignant lamentation over
their exclusion from Court. The poem is dedicated
to Mademoiselle de la Trousse, and it is supposed to
have been written by someone belonging to the
circle of Madame de Sevigne. The wit is perhaps
a little laboured. The gist of it is as follows :—
One of the Laces addressing the rest with some
warmth, says : —
11 Dites moi je vous en prie
Poincts, dentelles ou broderies
Qu'aurons nous done fait a la court
Pour qu'on nous chasse haut et court," etc.
Illustration XXL
A Lappet, Point d'Alencon.
93
"LA REVOLTS DES PASSEMENS" 95
To which "une Grande Dentelle d'Angleterre "
replies : —
11 Cet infortune sans seconde
Me fait bien renoncer au monde.
* * * *
Pour ne plus tourner a tout vent
Comme d'entrer dans un Couvent."
But the Laces of Flanders will not patiently submit
to be so extinguished, and many angry verses ensue.
At last a "Dentelle noire" in despair hires itself out
to a game merchant for nets to catch snipe and the
rest : —
" Chacun dissimulant sa rage
Doucement pliait son bagage."
* * * *
when "une pauvre malheureuse la Gueuse " (it was
the Lace of the common people) declares that she at
least will not give in, and that if they will follow
her lead she will certainly replace them in their
former position.
" La dessus le Poinct d'Alencon
Ayant bien appris la lecon
Fit une fort belle harangue,"
and the result was that they all repaired to the Fair
of St. Germains prepared to do battle for their rights.
However, the King brought down his big guns and
96 OF FRENCH LACES
the brave Laces forthwith took to their heels. They
were condemned at a court-martial, some to be made
into tinder for the sole use of the King's mousquetaires,
and others to be sent to the galleys or burned alive ;
but Cupid, " le petit dieu plein de finesse," makes
intercession and they are foroiven and received a^ain
into royal favour.
The poem is also interesting as giving us the
names of the Laces most in repute at the time.
" Point de Raguse " is not easy to identify. Ragusa
is a town on the Dalmatian coast, and being near
to the Venetian dominions, though not at the time
included in them, the Lace was probably of much the.
same kind as that produced in Venice itself; if so, its
fame is at present extinguished by that of its more
powerful neighbour.
The edict against Lace must have made a great
impression on society, for Abraham Bosse, whose
contemporary engravings are a mine of information
concerning the dress and manners of the day, gives
us an amusing record of the crisis. He depicts
the despair of the lady of fashion now attired
Puritan-wise in plain hemmed linen cuffs, collar and
cap, as she mournfully packs away all her rich lace-
trimmed costumes, and bewails her sad fate in heart-
broken verses.
POINT DE FRANCE 9;
The failure of past edicts was, however, the im-
mediate cause of a great success. In order to
exclude foreign manufactures Colbert hit upon the
better plan of encouraging those of his own country.
He induced Venetian lace-workers to settle near his
daughter-in-law's castle of Lonray at Alenc^on, and
selected a competent directrice in one Catherine
de Marcq, and finally in 1665 a flourishing Lace
factory was established, and Lace was produced in
exact imitation of Venetian Point, which rivalled if
it did not surpass the Italian original.
It was called by Royal Decree "Point de Prance."
The name lasted in connection with Alencon Lace
till about 1790. It is impossible now to distinguish
the earliest Lace so called and produced in Alencon
from the finest Venetian Point. The designs are
in the same style, and the workmanship is extremely
beautiful ; but by degrees, as greater freedom wTas very
wisely allowed to the workers, a new and separate
style developed itself. The patterns became smaller
and more delicate, finer thread was employed than
that made use of in Italy, "brides" became closer
and more regular in arrangement, and finally the
needlework " reseau " ground was invented in imi-
tation of the Pillow laces of the neighbouring"
Flemish Provinces, and we see attained in per-
o
98 OF FRENCH LACES
fection the style of Lace now known as Point
d'Alencon.
The Needle-point " reseau " was worked at Alencon
about the year 1 7 1 7, but combined with it the
patterns still retained a strong Renaissance char-
acter. Running scroll-like bands filled in with fanci-
ful "a jours" are a special characteristic of this period;
they wave from side to side of the piece of Lace,
form part of the edge and enclose spaces which are
decorated with flower forms conventionally treated.
(See Fig. 2, Illustration XXII.)
A variety of this style is to be met with which
has sometimes been distinguished as a separate Lace
under the name of " Argentella." Its peculiarity
is a large and very ornamental honeycomb filling,
made use of alternately with the ordinary " reseau "
as a groundwork for the design, with a very beautiful
effect. Mrs. Bury Palliser mentions that some of it
was sent to her from Genoa, but most authorities
seem agreed that it is undoubtedly Point d'Alencon.
Towards the beginning of Louis the Sixteenth's
reign Alencon patterns were much modified, the flower
representations became more and more naturalistic
:e the beautiful representation of roses in Fig. 1
of the illustration), and the groundwork was sprinkled
with spots or leaves. Finally under the Empire
Illustration XXII.
I. Early Point d'Alencon.
2. Later Point d'Alencon.
99
POINT D'ALENCON 101
the last stage was reached, the pattern dwindled and
became little more than an outline of "cordonnet," and
the " reseau " "seme de larmes " betokened the
extinction of this beautiful Art.
The peculiarity by which Point d'Alencon can
always be recognised is its " cordonnet," which is
firmer and clearer than that of any other Lace, owing,
it is said, to the fact that it is worked over horsehair ;
it is also firmly and closely covered with button-hole
stitching throughout. The Alen^on "reseau" is
shown in Fig. 3, Illustration I. It is made with a
double-twisted thread throughout, the looped stitches
being twisted on to horizontal threads previously fixed
across the width of the Lace, giving an effect of
lines or rows to the network.
Point d'Alencon is Lace of a very fine order, both
from the beauty of the designs during the time of
its prime, and also from the wonderful delicacy of
its workmanship, which last can scarcely be appre-
ciated except with the help of a magnifying glass.
The specimen shown in Illustration XXI. is part of
a lappet, the length of which is divided into sections
by a very beautiful framework filled in with delicate "a
jours"; each section contains a little group represent-
ing one of La Fontaine's fables ; a truly marvellous
triumph of needlework.
102 OF FRENCH LACES
POINT D'ARGENTAN.
Aro-entan is a town in the immediate neighbour-
hood of Alencon, and the Lace was made there
under the same direction. Its marked peculiarity is
that the " reseau " ground is not made of single
threads only, but that the sides of each mesh are
worked over with button-hole stitch. (See Fig. 4,
Illustration I.) The work is so fine that it can
scarcely be detected with the naked eye, but the
effect can easily be recognised as the hexagonal
mesh is larger, and has a stiffer appearance, than
is the case with any other Needle-made lace.
VALENCIENNES PILLOW LACE.
This most beautiful of French Pillow laces is
now no longer made in F* ranee itself, its manufacture
having been transferred to Ypres, in Belgium.
It belongs to that class of Pillow lace which is
made in one piece on the pillow, the same threads
forming both "toile" and "reseau" alike.
The peculiarity of all Valenciennes Lace is the
absence of any "cordonnet"; also the closeness and
evenness of the texture of the "toile" which re-
sembles the finest cambric ; but notwithstanding that
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VALENCIENNES LACE 105
these characteristics may always be recognised, there
is a very great difference between the earlier and
the later styles of the Lace. In the preceding pages
it has been explained that the earliest Pillow lace
was not made with the " reseau " ground; on the
contrary, this was one of the latest developments of
the lace-making Art. Even when "bride" work had
been abandoned there occurred a transition state
before the simple net-like character of the "reseau"
was perfected, and accordingly we find the earliest
Valenciennes Lace grounded with, so to speak, a
fancy mesh, thicker and closer in effect than the
open "reseau" of later date. The difference will
be seen between the two specimens shown in
Illustration XXIV., and there also will be seen a
difference in the style of design strongly corroborative
of the above statement ; for the specimen given of
the thick-grounded Lace is in excellent Renaissance
style, whereas the later Lace has degenerated into
naturalistic floral representation. It would appear
that the early Valenciennes Lace was produced,
oenerally, in the nei^hbourinor district, but that it
was in the town itself that the pure "reseau" was
invented, and forthwith the town workers, proud
of their invention, proceeded to appropriate to
their Lace the name of " Vraie Valenciennes,"
106 OF FRENCH LACES
pretending that this Lace could not be made elsewhere ;
and they moreover stigmatised the older style still
produced in the country villages as " Fausse Valen-
ciennes." The palm of merit would not be now
altogether awarded in their sense ; notice the beautiful
specimen shown in Illustration XXV. Here a
Renaissance framework encloses a naturalistically
treated carnation flower. The carnation has ever
been a favourite with embroiderers and lace-workers,
and in this instance is most beautifully represented.
The " reseau " of the "Vraie Valenciennes" is
made of four threads plaited throughout (see Fig. 7,
Illustration II.), hence its great durability and the
name given to it by its admirers, " Les eternelles
Valenciennes."
POINT DE PARIS.
It is sometimes contended that there is no special
Lace properly called by this name, but that it is
merely the designation of a particular kind of
" reseau," also described as the Fond Chant
"reseau." (See Fig. 8, Illustration II.) Still there is
no doubt that a manufacture of some sort of simple
Lace was carried on extensively during the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries, in the Isle de
France and in Paris itself, until annihilated by the
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107
[illustration XXV.
A Lappet, Early Valenciennes.
109
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X
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13
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III
LILLE 113
Revolution, and that its characteristic was this same
"reseau." As shown in the specimen — Illustration
XXVI. — the style of pattern is extremely simple,
and consists usually of small leafy sprays, united to
form a straight edge with "picots."
The industry is believed to have been first founded
by Huguenots, and encouraged by Henry IV. and
Sully, but no Lace of great artistic pretension was
ever produced.
LILLE.
Lille has been a French town since the treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668 ; its productions should there-
fore be properly included among French Laces,
though in character they are more nearly akin to
those of Flanders.
In appearance there is indeed a strong resemblance
to Mechlin ; the special difference between the two is
in the character of the "reseau." That of Lille Lace
is known as ''Fond simple" or "Fond clair." It is
made of two threads only, and these simply crossed,
not plaited, at their junction (see Fig. 6, Illustra-
tion II.) ; by this peculiarity. Lille Lace can be always
recognised. The pattern is outlined with a " cor-
donnet " of flat untwisted coarse thread. The edge
o
of the Lace is usually quite straight, not scolloped or
Q
ii4 OF FRENCH LACES
wavy, and oval openings are left in the pattern near
the edge and filled with ornamental "a jours." The
"reseau" is often sprinkled with small square dots.
CHANTILLY.
Though the silk Lace of France is mostly known
under this name, yet its manufacture was extensively
carried on at Caen, Bayeux, and Le Puy, as well as
at Chantilly.
It is made both in black and white silk, and its
distinguishing peculiarity is the use of the six-pointed
star " reseau," the " Point de Paris " already men-
tioned, also known by the name of " Fond Chant,"
an abbreviation of Chantilly. (See Fig. 8, Illustra-
tion II.) It is generally used in conjunction with
the " Fond simple ': of Lille. The pattern of
Chantillv Lace is outlined with a "cordonnet" of a
flat untwisted silk strand.
BLONDE,
also made in the same districts, has a "reseau" of
the Lille type made of fine twisted silk, while the
" toile " is worked entirely with a broad flat strand,
producing a very attractive glistening effect. The
name " Blonde " originated from the use of ecru
instead of bleached silk, hence " blonde '! or flaxen.
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115
BLONDE 11/
The manufacture of silk Lace at Chantilly and in
the neighbourhood was established in the seventeenth
century by the Duchesse de Longueville, and owing
to her patronage and also probably to the vicinity of
Paris it became for a time very popular. At the
Revolution the demand for it, of course, at once
ceased, and not only so, but being looked upon as
royal proteges the unfortunate lace - makers were
involved in the ruin of their patrons, and most
of them perished by the guillotine. During the
Empire, however, Chantilly and also Blonde came
again into fashion, and since that time the demand
for black silk Blonde for Spanish mantillas alone, has
kept up the prosperity of the trade, which, however,
is by no means confined to any one town, but
flourishes throughout the province of Calvados.
OF OTHER FRENCH PILLOW LACES.
Xormandv, during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, was a very important district for Pillow
lace-making in France, Valenciennes at the time
forming part of Flanders.
The picturesque head-dresses of the peasant women
no doubt encouraged the manufacture. In 1692, in
Dieppe alone, four thousand women were employed
nS OF FRENCH LACES
in lace-making, and at Havre. Honfleur, Bolbec, Eu,
and Fecamps the trade was also in a very flourish-
ing condition. The Lace produced was of a simple
character, much resembling- the modern Valenciennes
edgings ; it is often mentioned in inventories and
letters of the day as being used by the upper classes,
especially as trimmings for under -linen. But the
Revolution passed over this district as elsewhere like
a destroying blight, and the lace-makinef trade was
for a time utterly extinguished. In 1826 some nuns
attempted to revive the manufacture, and a Lace
school was started at Dieppe with some success.
The kind of Lace is, however, unfortunately of all
others the easiest to imitate by machinery ; indeed,
only workers themselves, it has been said, can detect
the very slight difference that exists between ordinary
Valenciennes edging, as made on the pillow, and the
best that is produced by the loom. Under these
circumstances, as purchasers will naturally always
gravitate to the cheapest market, it is no wonder
if hand-work, of necessity more laborious, and conse-
quently more costly, cannot be made remunerative.
Illustration XXVIII.
Blonde.
119
CHAPTER VI.
OF FLEMISH LACES.
Reversing what we have seen to be the case with
Italian Lace, the earliest Flemish Lace was un-
doubtedly made on the pillow, though as to whether
the Art originated in Flanders or was imported
from Venice, there is great difference of opinion.
The arguments on both sides have been stated on
page 67. But some further light seems to be thrown
on the subject, when the character of the early
Flemish Lace is observed. According to the opinion
of most writers, borne out by the chronological
arrangement of the catalogue of the South Ken-
sington Museum, the earliest Lace made in Flanders
was of the kind known as Pillow Guipure. The
pattern is made as of tape in a flowing Renaissance
R 121
122 OF FLEMISH LACES
style, sometimes connected by "brides," sometimes
altogether without " brides," when the points of
the pattern touch each other.
There are many specimens of this Lace in the
Museum so nearly like Italian Lace of the same
kind, that the description there given of them is
" Flemish or Italian." Two specimens are here
shown in Illustration XXIX. of this Lace, and in
these specimens at any rate a distinction can be
observed which seems to mark them as Flemish.
The thread used is much finer, and at the same
time the work is looser and less firm than that seen
in acknowledged Italian Pillow lace. However that
may be, no one accustomed to Italian design can look
at them without feeling sure that the inspiration of
such Lace was certainly that of the Italian Renaissance,
even though produced in Flanders, and if so, then
the natural conclusion will be that such Pillow lace
was in its origin Italian.
Thus much has been said, in order that the student
may not be perplexed when finding Lace of undoubted
Italian character attributed with good evidence to
Belgium.
In Flanders, as elsewhere, Pillow lace "a brides"
was antecedent to that made with the " rcseau "
ground. In specimen Fig. i one can almost see
Illustration XXIX.
Flemish Pillow Lace (two specimens).
123
ORIGIN OF "RESEAU" GROUND 125
how the one was developed out of the other. The
pattern was too loose to admit of large open spaces,
and as it was easier held together by many ties than
by few, these interlaced, and naturally fell into regular
arrangement, foreshadowing the mesh of the future
It .1 '»
reseau.
The exact time at which this was fully developed
seems uncertain. Portraiture in England, at least
in this case, is of little or no assistance, owing to
the vicious taste of the day which induced Sir Peter
Lely and others to represent their sitters as draped
in loose floating masses of blue or white satin,
arranged in a supposed classical but impossible
manner, and fastened on the thigh or the shoulder
with an equally impossible jewel. But fortunately
Art in Holland was less imaginative ; and in a portrait
of Fraulein Verbiest, by Gonzales Coques, we see
Lace with a "reseau" ground very clearly depicted.
Coques died in 1684; the invention therefore must
have been anterior to that date.
Mr. Alan Cole, whose short introduction to the
catalogue of Lace in the South Kensington Museum
is an admirably clear exposition of the subject, is
of opinion that " the origin of ' reseau ' grounds may
be considered to lie first in the use of the net ground
for ' Lacis ' or Darned netting, the ' Punto a maglia
126 OF FLEMISH LACES
quadra,' for which Vinciolo made many designs "
(the pattern books alluded to in a preceding chapter ;
see p. 35). "He was in the employment of the
French Court towards the end of the sixteenth
century, and at this time the early form of Pillow
lace was being produced, and as it proceeded and
became more and more developed, the making of
meshes in small series of twos and threes also
developed" (see Fig. 2, Illustration XXIX.) "and
expanded into larger spaces filled with 'reseau.' It
seems likely that this development was stimulated
by the contemporary production of the Darned
net-work, which the lace-workers would be ambitious
of reproducing on the pillow."
The earliest " reseau " o-rounded Lace made in
Flanders had a laro-e irregular mesh, and was called
*• Fond de brides."
BRUSSELS PILLOW LACE.
This has, all along, retained a trace of its origin
from Pillow Guipure, in that like its Genoese original,
and unlike other Flemish Laees, it is not made in
one piece on the pillow, but the pattern is first made
by itself, and the " reseau " ground is worked in round
it afterwards. The peculiarity is easily recognised ;
BRUSSELS PILLOW-LACE
127
for in consequence of the way in which it is worked,
the lono- threads that form the " toile " of Brussels
Lace of all dates always follow the curves of the
pattern, whereas with other Flemish Laces in which
pattern and "reseau" are made together in one piece
on the pillow, however varied the forms may be,
these threads are found to run parallel to the edge
of the whole length of the Lace, and to pass across
through the pattern into the "reseau" ground. (See
diagram.)
i»?8^
iiiBy
Brussels.
Mechlin.
Here we have the first peculiarity by which
Brussels Pillow lace can be recognised. Secondly,
it is to be noticed that the "reseau" of Brussels Lace,
as seen through a magnifying glass, has a hexagonal
mesh, of which two sides are made of four threads
plaited four times, and four sides of two threads
128 OF FLEMISH LACES
twisted twice. (See Fig. 3, Illustration II.) Thirdly,
Brussels Pillow lace has two sorts of "toile"; one,
the usual woven texture as of a piece of cambric ;
the other a more open arrangement of the threads,
having very much the appearance of the Fond
Chant " reseau." (See Fig. 2, Illustration II.) This
is used with great effect to represent shading in the
production of flower forms, especially in modern Lace.
Fourthly, the pattern of Brussels Lace is not out-
lined with a " cordonnet," but a little line of open-
work stitches forms the edge instead. (See diagram.)
Brussels Pillow lace is also distinguished by the
beauty of its designs, more freedom being possible in
consequence of the manner in which it was worked.
The extreme fineness of the thread in old Brussels
Pillow lace is also to be noticed. It was spun, we
are told, in dark, damp cellars, where only one ray
of lieht was arranged to fall on the thread, which
was otherwise almost invisible ; also because in a
drier air it would have been too brittle. But such
hand-spun thread is now too costly for use, and
machine-made thread is always substituted.
Although the characteristics enumerated above may
always be recognised, yet the Brussels Pillow lace
of to-day bears but slight resemblance to the manu-
factures of the seventeenth century. It has gone
Illustration XXX.
Old Brussels Pillow lace— " Point d'Angleterre."
130
POINT D'ANGLETERRE 131
through many styles in pattern and make, which may
be classed as follows : —
POINT D'ANGLETERRE.
On the first invention of the perfectly formed
"reseau" ground, about the middle of the seventeenth
century, this was worked on the pillow in the follow-
ing manner : threads were hooked on to the little
open edge of the " toile " of the pattern, and with
these the "reseau" was worked in round the pattern
to fill up the ground. " Reseau v made in this
manner is called the "vrai reseau," and Brussels Lace
thus worked is properly styled " Point d'Angleterre."
The specimen shown in Illustration XXX. of this
early style has a characteristic peculiarity, namely,
the raised rib of plaited threads marking the veins
of the leaves and outlining the salient parts.
It is interesting to compare this specimen with the
early Valenciennes lappet shown in Illustration XXV.;
though the method of execution is radically different
the design is almost identical, showing the interchange
of patterns which took place between various contem-
porary Lace manufactories'. It is a lesson that one
cannot altogether trust to the style of the pattern in
judging of the local character of Lace.
"Point d'Ansrleterre " was also often made with
132 OF FLEMISH LACES
open spaces left either round the pattern or in
diagonal bars, and these were filled in with pillow-
made " brides picotees." This Lace is called "Point
d'Angleterre a brides." A very beautiful example is
given in Illustration XXXI. , which is further interest-
ing on account of the fine Needle-point fillings that
have been superadded. When such is the case the
Lace is called " mixed Lace."
Many explanations have been given for the use
of the name "Point d'Angleterre," for a Lace that
is neither Point nor made in England. M. Sequin
favours the theory that the Lace was of English
origin, and that it was only subsequently produced
in Brussels ; but there seems to be but little ground
for that view. The opinion more usually held is that
when, about the year 1660, its importation into
England, as well as into France, was forbidden by
prohibitive duties, the Lace merchants nevertheless
found means to smuggle it across by sea to English
ports and then sold it here, and exported it into
France as " Point d'Angleterre." To this day all
Brussels Lace is indiscriminately so called in France.
The ladies of Louis the Fifteenth's Court, in the days
when hoops and powder were in fashion, particularly-
affected this Lace. In England the protective duties
were removed in 1699, and here too, during the
Illustration XXXI.
Point d'Angleterre a brides."
133
POINT D'ANGLETERRE 135
reierns of George the First and George the Second,
in spite of great efforts made to encourage native
lace-making, ruffles, lappets, and flounces were most
admired when made of Brussels Lace. Such Lace
at this time was made in pieces of considerable size,
and in this case the " reseau " was worked in narrow
strips from an inch and a half to two inches wide,
and afterwards joined together to the required width
with the needle, but so skilfully as almost to elude
detection.
Brussels Lace, "a vrai reseau," continued to be
produced until the catastrophe of the French Revolu-
tion, which had its effect upon this as upon all other
centres of the Lace industry ; but here, it was not
the only cause of the decline of the Art. The inven-
tion of machine-made net had been perfected in
Nottingham about the vear 1810, and from that
time forward the Brussels lace-workers adopted the
plan of appliqueing their Pillow-made patterns on
this comparatively inexpensive material, and the "vrai
reseau " worked on the pillow is now never made
except by special order for Royalty or for exhibition
purposes.
Lace so appliqued can be distinguished from that
made with the " vrai reseau " by the fact that the
net ground, though sometimes cut away, is often
136 OF FLEMISH LACES
seen to pass behind the lace pattern, and also by the
character of the network ; machine-made net is com-
posed of diamond-shaped meshes, and is made with
two threads only, very tightly twisted and crossed, not
plaited, at their junction, and is quite unlike the
Brussels pillow "reseau" shown in Fig. 3, Illustration II.
Brussels Pillow Lace appliqueed on machine-made
net is known as " Point plat applique/' The term
"Plat" is used to distinguish it from Needle-point
Brussels, also sometimes applique. The innovation
described above was very fatal to the character of
Brussels Lace. The designs Qrew more and more
attenuated and detached as the temptation was felt
to spread the pattern more sparsely over the net
ground. Owing to the naturalistic taste of the day
also, the finely composed conventional ornament of
an earlier date was abandoned in favour of repre-
sentations of natural flowers. A still later but better
style of Brussels Lace is the
POIXT DUCHESSE.
In this the pattern is grounded entirely with. Pillow-
made "brides," and the "reseau" is altogether absent.
The designs are necessarily more continuous than in
the preceding Lace, and they are often very good.
Illustration XXXII.
Modern Brussels.
i. Point Duchesse. 2. Point Plat Applique.
137
BRUSSELS NEEDLE-POINT 139
The name of this Lace is of comparatively recent
date, but the style itself existed earlier, under the
designation of " Guipure facon Angleterre."
BRUSSELS NEEDLE-POINT LACE.
Brussels is the only Flemish centre for the manu-
facture of Needle-point lace.
In Flanders lace-making started from the invention
or adoption of Pillow lace, and it seems evident
that it was only in consequence of a spirit of
emulation, and of the example set by the French
lace-workers of Alencon, that needle lace-making was
started at Brussels, about the year 1720. A proof
of its late adoption is, that Brussels Needle-point
was never made with " brides " only, as we have
seen was the case with the early Needle - points of
Venice, and also with the work first produced in
France.
It is interesting here to note how the influence
of neio-hbourino- countries and districts acted and
reacted on each other. The Needle-point " reseau "
of Alencon was practically a copy, with the needle,
of the pillow ground of Flanders, and now in
turn Flemish workers borrowed, or more probably
stole, from France the secrets of Needle lace,
J4o OF FLEMISH LACES
including the invention originally copied from them-
selves.
The earliest Brussels Point very nearly resembles
that of Alencon. The work is generally, however,
not quite so close and firm, and the "toile" is looser
and flatter. The "cordonnet," instead of being entirely
covered with button-hole stitches, as is the case
with Alencon Lace, is left in an unfinished state as
a strand of threads. There is also a difference in
the " reseau " ; in Brussels Lace it is made with
a simple looped stitch, whereas in the Alencon
"reseau" the loops are whipped over at their base
with an additional thread. (See Figs. 2, 3, Illustra-
tion I.) This peculiarity has been continued to the
present day, the " reseau " of modern " Point de Gaze "
being so worked.
The style of the designs of Brussels Point is
rarely of so fine a Renaissance type as in the best
French Lace. The patterns are usually such as
were also worked at the time on the pillow ; but
where patterns as well as inventions were so
frequently interchanged, it is impossible to draw
any certain distinction from such differences. The
uncovered " cordonnet " and the simply looped
"reseau" are the safest indications.
The earliest Brussels Needle-point was grounded
Illustration XXXIII.
i. 01«1 Brussels Needle-point.
2. Modern Brussels Needle-point Applique*.
142
POINT APPLIQUE 143
with a needle "reseau," but examples of such Lace
are not very common. The Brussels lace-makers
were justly celebrated for their beautiful Pillow-made
"re'seau," and being more familiar with its practice
they seem to have preferred to use it. Thus we
find much of their best Needle lace grounded with
the l'vrai reseau" worked on the pillow, in the
same way as with the " Point d'Angleterre " ; this is
the case with the specimen shown in Fig. 1, Illustra-
tion XXXIII.
At the beginning of this century Brussels Needle
lace underwent the same process of decline, and
from the same causes that we have seen to have
affected the Pillow lace ; it degenerated into —
POINT APPLIQUF;
that is, the Needle lace pattern instead of being
grounded with the " vrai reseau," was appliqued
on to machine-made net ; and as the demand for a
less expensive style of work grew greater at the
same time that labour became dearer, the patterns
became more and more slender and were more thinly
scattered over the ground. In Illustration XXXIII.
two specimens are shown. Fig. 1 represents a piece
of early Brussels Point grounded with the Pillow-
i44 OF FLEMISH LACES
made " vrai reseau," and Fig. 2 a late piece of
" Point Applique." If for no other reason, this later
style is to be deprecated on account of the quality
of the net, which is always partly, often entirely, made
of cotton ; it shrinks the first time it is washed,
causing the curves of the needle-worked pattern to
become crumpled and shapeless, and if, in order
to avoid this misfortune, the Lace is sent to Brussels
to be cleaned, it is, we understand, only possible to
do so by dipping it in white lead, with the certain
result that the whole will in time turn the colour
of rust.
POINT DE GAZE.
It is a pleasure to record that of late years an
honest return has been made by the Brussels lace-
workers to early Needle-point traditions. The beauti-
ful modern Lace known as " Point de Gaze "' is made
entirelv with the needle, and is grounded with its
own " reseau." Partly to suit modern taste in design,
and partly perhaps from economy of work when
labour is so dear, the execution is much more open
and slight than in the early Lace, but this very, slight-
ness is skilfully made use of to produce an extremely
dcgant effect; part of the " toile " is made in close
and part in open stitch, giving an appearance ol
Illustration XXXIV.
Modern Brussels Needle-point — "Point de Gaze."
U 145
POINT DE GAZE 147
shading, and the open parts are very prettily en-
riched with dotting. If to those who delight in
the soft richness of the work of former times the
execution of the "Point de Gaze" seems somewhat
thin and loose, and the style of the patterns rather
too naturalistic, it must be allowed that to many, the
result produced is a certain lightness and delicacy
to which the old Brussels Point did not attain ; and
one must be glad that when an almost unlimited
demand for cheaper goods is in every direction flood-
ing the market and pressing down the price at which
Lace can be sold, the Brussels craftsmen should have
taken up again their old Art and have been able to
produce so beautiful a fabric.
OF FLEMISH LACE.
The best known Flemish Laces, other than
Brussels, are : Mechlin, Binche, Ypres, and Ant-
werp.
All these belong to that class of Pillow lace which
is made in one piece on the pillow, the same threads
passing across the whole width of the Lace and form-
ing both the ground and the pattern. (See diagram,
p. 127.)
148 OF FLEMISH LACES
MECHLIN (Fr. M ALINES).
All Flemish Lace was at one time classed under
this name, but the earliest that can be distinctively
so called was made with a " reseau " ground about
the year 1720. The special characteristics of Mechlin
Lace are : first, the " cordonnet " of a flat silky thread
which always outlines the pattern ; and, secondly, the
hexagonal mesh of the " reseau." It is made of two
threads twisted twice on four sides, and four threads
plaited three times on the two other sides ; thus the
plait is shorter, and the mesh consequently smaller
than that of Brussels Lace. (See Illustration II., Figs.
3, 4.) This Lace is sometimes grounded with an
ornamental " reseau," instead of one in the usual hexa-
gonal shape, called " Fond de neige " or " CEil de
perdrix," and also occasionally with the six-pointed
" F'ond Chant," but these varieties are not common.
In the earliest Mechlin Lace the style of designs
very much resembles that of Brussels, though rather
heavier and less graceful ; it is needless to repeat,
however, that though the patterns may be alike, the
totally different method of construction always marks
the difference between the two. (See p. 127.)
The quatrefoil flower pattern seen in Illustration
Illustration XXXV.
Early Mechlin.
149
MECHLIN 151
XXXV., as a filling- to the spaces of the conventional
scroll-work, is very characteristic of this period.
Illustration XXXVI. shows another imitation of
Brussels designs. In this specimen of " Malines a
brides" the peculiarities of " Point d' Angleterre " are
very closely followed, even to the open spaces filled
in with " bride "-like " a jours."
But Mechlin, when at the height of its popu-
larity, had evolved a style of its own. The pattern,
more or less floral, always formed the edge of the
Lace, and the " reseau " ground was sprinkled with
small flowers or spots. The rose and the carnation,
two very favourite flowers with lace-makers, wrere
represented with singular fidelity. The Lace of this
period is perhaps one of the prettiest in existence.
It is so light and soft, the pattern and the "reseau" are
so well balanced, and the designs so graceful, that
it well deserves its title of the Queen of Laces. The
fine Indian muslins which became the fashion at the
court of Marie Antoinette could support no heavier
ornament, and accordingly we see it abundantly intro-
duced in the portraits of the day.
In England it has been always a favourite, and
few are the collections of old family Lace in which
some beautiful specimens are not to be found.
But this Lace, like all others, had its day of decline
152 OF FLEMISH LACES
in taste as well as in popularity. The French
Revolution was a blow severely felt, and when the
lace trade revived under the Empire, perhaps the
old patterns had been lost or forgotten, or were
found too expensive for sale, and so a thinner and
more meagre style of design was adopted. But the
revival was not long-lived, and now the manufacture
is altogether discontinued.
BINCHE.
Lace of a very fine and delicate description is
attributed to this town.
Its characteristics are, that there is either no
" cordonnet " at all outlining the pattern, or that the
" cordonnet " is scarcely a thicker thread than that
which makes the " toile." The ground can scarcely
be called a "reseau," for there are no meshes, but
instead, a spider's-web-like material, closely sprinkled
with small round spots or discs. It is called a " Fond
de nei^e," and in truth reallv resembles snowflakes.
The whole is more like a delicate cobweb than any
other work of woman's fingers.
This is one of the earliest of Flemish Laces, as
is shown by the absence of any regular "reseau."
The kind of work has now been quite given up, and
Mrs. Palliser says that the lace-makers of Binche
Illustration XXXVI.
I. Early Mechlin "a brides." 2. Later Mechlin "a brides."
X 153
o
<
H
/.
33
TROLLE KANT 157
in her time employed themselves in making the
sprigs for Brussels Point plat applique.
On the same illustration is shown a specimen of
so-called Trolle Kant ; Kant being the Flemish word
for Lace, and Trolle, to judge from the use of the
corresponding word "Trolly" in Buckinghamshire,
signifying the coarse outlining " cordonnet." The
specimen is interesting as being a rough representa-
tion of the general style of early Flemish designs.
YPRES.
As has been said on page 102, the manufacture of
Valenciennes Lace, which has entirely disappeared
from the place of its birth, has been continued at
Ypres and in the neighbourhood. The Lace is made
in exactly the same manner as was formerly the
" Vraie Valenciennes," but it is inferior in workman-
ship, and in variety and beauty of design. Its
character is too well known to require description ;
it need only be said here that like the old Valen-
ciennes, the pattern is not outlined with any " cor-
donnet," and that the ''reseau" is made with a plait
of four threads, and forms a diamond-shaped mesh.
158 OF FLEMISH LACES
ANTWERP.
The best known Lace made at Antwerp is the
so-called " Potten Kant," or Pot lace, from the
representation of a pot or vase of flowers with
which it is always decorated. Some have considered
this pattern to be a survival from an earlier design,
including the fio-ure of the Virgin and the Annuncia-
tion, though it does not seem certain that any such
larger composition has ever been seen. The pot
varies very much in size and details. The accom-
panying illustration shows a very handsome one,
with some exceedingly well-represented carnation
flowers ; but, large or small, no Antwerp woman's cap
was in former days considered properly trimmed
without this ornament. The Lace is usually grounded
with a coarse " Fond Chant."
In various places in Flanders, besides those above
mentioned, many kinds of Lace, more or less coarse,
have been made, but without any such special dis-
tinction as to require separate notice ; they can be
usually recognised as Flemish bv a resemblance to
the characteristics already described, as those of the
more important manufactures.
>
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159
Limerick Lace.
CHAPTER VII.
OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE.
Linen Cut-work was made in England very ex-
tensively during the sixteenth century. It was a
favourite accomplishment of the ladies of Queen
Elizabeth's time, and it supplied, moreover, a profit-
able occupation for a large class of professional
workwomen. There was an enormous demand for
Lace of the finer sort for ruffs, and the thicker
linen Lace was largely used to trim sheets and
table linen, etc. We see it represented on the cradle
monument to the infant daughter of James the First
Y 161
162 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
in Westminster Abbey, and also on the dress of
her elder sister, whose recumbent figure in effigy
lies hard by. An actual relic of the kind, possessing
a peculiar interest, is to be found to this, day in a
cottage in the .village of Shottery, in Warwickshire,
which is still occupied by descendants of the family
of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife. On an old
oak bedstead in an upstairs room there is displayed
the best linen sheet which, as tradition says, was
kept for special family occasions, such as births,
christenings, weddings, funerals, etc. It has a
narrow strip, about an inch and a half wide, of
Cut-work made in the linen, and joining two
breadths together where there would otherwise be
a seam. The pattern is of a very simple zigzag
character. The bolster cover, now kept in a frame,
has a rather wider band of a more ambitious design,
but of the same style of work. There seems every
reason to believe that this relic is authentic, and as
it might very well date from Elizabethan times, it
is possible that our great poet himself may have seen
or even used this bed furniture in the house of his
wife's parents.
Besides articles for use, domestic or otherwise, a
considerable number of samplers have come down
to us. They were worked at schools or kept as
X
X
c
u
en
'ha
a
W
163
HONITON LACE 165
collections of patterns of embroidery by industrious
housewives. Illustration XXXIX. represents part of
one in the collection of the South Kensington
Museum, with two patterns of Cut-work, rather
clumsy and heavy in style, but, as will be seen,
worked in the usual Italian manner. (See Illus. I.,
Fig. 5.) Bands of embroidery patterns of various
kinds other than Cut-work fill up a strip of linen of
about a yard and a half long. It is signed and
dated " Elizabeth Mackett 1696." But beyond Cut-
work, no great amount of Needle lace seems ever
to have been made in England. Bone lace (that
is, Pillow lace) is constantly alluded to in Queen
Elizabeth's wardrobe accounts, and though a good
deal no doubt came from Flanders and Genoa,
there is evidence to show that by the beginning
of the seventeenth century the native lace-making
trade was in a flourishing condition in many parts
of England.
Its chief centres have always been in Devonshire
(especially Honiton), Bedfordshire, and Buckingham-
shire.
HONITON LACE.
It has been mentioned in connection with the
name " Point d'Angleterre " that the theory is some-
1 66 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
times entertained that this Lace originated in England,
and was only afterwards transferred to Brussels. ' The
probability, however, seems to be that, on the
contrary, the Art came to England from* Flanders,
as some have supposed in consequence of an
immigration of Protestants during a time of perse-
cution. However that may be, Mrs. Treadwin
mentions in her valuable book on Antique Point
and Honitoii, that Pillow lace of some sort was
made in this district some time before the year
1617. It was probably not at all like that now
produced in Devonshire, but rather a sort of open
woven braid with a simple diamond-shaped lozenge
pattern of a kind still sometimes to be met with.
Our present use of the word Lace in " bootlaces,"
etc., may be a clue to what was called Lace in
early English times — namely, a plaited braid, more or
less ornamental.
During the troubles of the Civil War and the
Commonwealth ornament in dress was naturally
in abevance, but on the return of the Court in 1660
Lace also resumed its place in society. It was,
however, speedily confronted with difficulties of a
fiscal nature, when, in order to increase the revenue
and also perhaps to protect native trade, prohibitive
duties were put upon its importation from abroad.
HONITON LACE 167
We have seen in a previous chapter how these were
evaded ; it was doubtless, however, at this time, and
in consequence of these duties, that Flemish lace-
workers must have been induced to come over to
England to teach their art in Devonshire. The
absolute identity in the method of working Honiton
and Brussels Lace can scarcely otherwise be accounted
for.
Early Devonshire Lace appears, however, some-
times to have had one peculiarity distinguishing it
both from Brussels and from the later Honiton.
It is the use of an outlining " cordonnet " or trolly or
gimp, from which it was locally known as Trolly
lace.
The development of this Lace has followed much
the same course as did those of Flanders. As with
Brussels " Point d'Angleterre," the pattern part of
Honiton having been made first on the pillow by
itself, the " reseau " in early times was worked in
round it, also on the pillow ; but later, after the
invention of machine - made net, the principle of
"applique" work was also adopted in England, and
this cheaper and inferior material was substituted for
the hand-made ©round.
The difference between Honiton and Brussels
Pillow lace is one of quality rather than of kind.
1 68 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
English designs have been as a rule less artistic
than those in use in Brussels.
Even in the best specimens produced during the
early part of this century garlands and bouquets of
natural flowers have been put together without much
idea or knowledge of composition. The execution,
also, was in general less finished and delicate than
in good Brussels Lace. But these remarks apply
rather to the past ; of late years schools of Design
and the emulation excited by International Exhibi-
tions have much improved the character of English
Lace on both points. The difference between the
two specimens shown in Illustration XL. will be at
once noticed. No. i represents Lace made in the
early half of this century. The flower sprigs are
rather thick and heavy in shape and are " appliqued "
on to machine-made net. No. 2 shows a recent
production. The pattern is bold and continuous as
well as graceful, and the ground is a very good needle-
worked " reseau " — it is a mixed Lace, in fact. Much
of the best Honiton now made is in this style. A
"Duchesse" lace, very similar to that made in
Brussels (see Illustration XXXII.), is also now
worked in Devonshire.
Illustration XL.
I. Honiton Applique.
Z
2. Honiton Applique wiih needle " reseau
169
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LACE 171
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE AND BEDFORDSHIRE LACE.
There is a tradition that while Catherine of Aragon,
the forsaken Queen of Henry the Eighth, was living
at Ampthill Park, in Bedfordshire, about 1532,
waiting with what patience she might for the decision
of the Pope respecting her divorce, she beguiled
her sadness by exercising her own skill in needle-
work and required the ladies of her household to
do the same. Not only so, but she interested her-
self in teaching lace - making" to the village women
of the district, and this was the origin of the Bed-
fordshire lace industry. To confirm the truth of the
story, it is said that till well within the present cen-
tury the name-day of the kind but most unhappy lady,
St. Catherine's Day, the 25th November, was annually
kept as a treat-day for young lace-makers, and chil-
dren expected a feast of cakes and sweets, and called
the day " Kattern's Day." St. Catherine is also the
patron saint of girls and unmarried women. But
the Lace then taught by the Spanish princess to the
Bedfordshire women was certainly not anything like
the present Pillow lace ; more probably it was Cut-
work or Reticella made out of linen, an Art which
we know to have been practised in Italy and Spain
172 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
at the time, and which there is the early evidence of
old English samplers to prove was also, though with
less taste, made in England.
Some thirty years after Queen Catherine's death
another impetus was given to the lace industry by
the arrival in the neighbourhood of certain Flemish
lace - workers, who had fled from the persecutions
of the Duke of Alva, and settled in the south
midland counties. These introduced a kind of
Pillow lace known by the name of " Bone lace."
The earliest mention of Lace under this name is in
1554, when it is said to have trimmed the dress worn
by Sir Thomas Wyatt at his execution ; in the
accounts of Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe the name
is of constant recurrence.
After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in
1685, another immigration of foreign lace-makers took
place, this time from the French provinces bordering
on Flanders, and it is doubtless to these last that the
distinctly Flemish character of the old Bedfordshire
and Buckinghamshire Lace is to be attributed.
o
Again, in 1794 it is recorded in the Annual
Register that "a number of engenuous french emi-
grants have found employment in the manufacture
of Lace " in these counties. Thus it would seem as
though one foreign settlement attracted another.
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174
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LACE 175
The Lace of the two counties may be classed to-
gether as being practically the same. They belong
to that class of Lace which is worked in one piece
on the pillow (see p. 126), and in their general
character and style of design they strongly resemble
the Lace manufactured at Lille. The " reseau "
ground is exactly the same as that of Lille Lace,
that is, it is composed of two threads twisted and
simply crossed, not plaited, at their junction. The
mesh varies a little in shape, from a four-sided
diamond shape to a hexagon, according as the threads
at crossing are drawn tighter or left loose and long.
Like Lille, the pattern of Buckinghamshire Lace is
outlined with a coarse silky thread, called locally the
"Trolly," from the Flemish word " Trolle."
The style of designs, also, of the English Lace has
been clearly influenced by Lille models. There are
often the same oval-shaped openings filled with
various fancy "a jours." In No. 2, Illustration XLL,
a specimen is shown which goes by the name of
" Spider lace," on account of the open-work filling.
No. 1 represents what is called " Baby lace," a
variety with a finer " reseau " and smaller pattern,
made on purpose for trimming baby-linen ; and here
again, by the small square dots on the ground, one
is reminded of a frequent peculiarity in Lille Lace.
176 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
From the time of the first Flemish settlement
till almost the middle of the present century, the
lace industry gave constant occupation to many
hundreds of women and children in the district.
Its chief centres were at Great Marlow, Olney,
Stony Stratford, Newport Pagnel, and High
Wycombe ; but these towns were probably only
where the Lace was collected from the workers, to
be sold bv middle-men, the work itself being carried
on in most of the country villages. It was still then
called Bone lace ; the origin of the term is not
easy to ascertain. Several explanations have been
given — that the little bones of sheeps' trotters were
at first used as bobbins ; that till the brass pins
used in lace - making for fixing the work in its
place became cheap enough to be general, fishbones
were substituted ; also that the patterns were
pricked out on thin plates of bone instead of on
the parchment in later use. The fact that the
Lace has also been called "Parchment lace" gives
a colour to this last theory.
Old bobbins are often found made of bone instead
of wood. They are sometimes very curiously
decorated, indeed they seem to have been often used
as love-tokens between the young people of the day.
They are to be seen stained with red or other colours,
OLD BOBBINS 177
and ingeniously turned in ribs or stripes; rings of metal
are fastened to them at intervals, or brass wire is wound
round them, and " gingles " or bunches of coloured
beads are hung from the end strung on a loop of wire,
these last being also of use in increasing the tension
of the thread by adding to the weight of the bobbin ;
and, lastly, mottoes of various kinds are, so to speak,
tattooed on them, the letters being outlined by
pricked holes filled with colour. Sometimes it is
the name of the giver, as "dear Joseph," which is
so inscribed ; sometimes the girl's name, as " sarah " ;
and sometimes a three-lined motto, as —
"LOVE ME OR
LEAVE ME A
LONE FOR EVER."
Not only the bobbins, but the pillow also was the sub-
ject of much pride and pleasure, and even the pins
were objects of ornamentation. Children gathered
the little prickly seeds of the hedgerow Bed-straw
{Galium) and threaded them on the pins, which, when
dry, formed little brown heads as hard, and much the
same colour as if made of walnut wood.
An illustration of some ornamented bobbins and
also of a Lace token will be found at the end of
this chapter. The latter were used by employers of
2 A
1 73
OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
labour as payment to their work-people at the end
of the last century, when the country seems to haye
suffered from a scarcity of mint-coined money. They
were issued as country bank-notes are now, and
were redeemable at a fixed rate when presented to
the central office.
Illustration XLII.
An Old Lace Chest.
The old oak chest shown aboye is another relic
of the prosperous days of lace-making in Buckingham-
shire. The upper part was intended to hold the
lace pillow, while the drawers below were to take
the bobbins and patterns.
It was shortly after the beginning of this century,
however, that Machine lace was invented and became
generally known, and thenceforward the hand-made
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE LACE 179
Lace trade had but a precarious existence. In order
to keep the favour of the purchasing public, continual
changes have been made in the style of the Lace
produced. Silk Lace called " Blonde "■ — because being
made with raw silk it was "fair," not white in colour —
was one of the earliest new introductions ; to that
succeeded Maltese and the so-called "Cluny," named
after no place of its manufacture, but from the
Museum of Antiquities in the Hotel Cluny in Paris,
and because the Lace was supposed to have a
mediaeval appearance. It is a plaited Lace, somewhat
resembling the Genoese and Maltese Laces, and is
made both in black silk and in white cotton. And
here, alas ! is the secret of the inferiority, and much
of the want of success of this modern English Lace ;
it is almost always made of cotton, and not linen
thread, the probable reason being that the material
is more within the means of the cottage workers.
After Cluny came coloured worsted Lace and Torchon
lace, and this is now the kind mostly produced.
Besides, however, the competition of steam machinery,
and the consequent lowering of prices, another enemy
has lately come into the field against the Bucking-
hamshire lace-workers, in the shape of the Board
of Education. Children in former times began to
learn to use their bobbins at five years old, and
1S0 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
at twelve were able to support themselves entirely
by their work, and it is said, with some show of
reason, that unless the Art is so acquired by the
workers when very young, there is but small likeli-
hood that sufficient skill will ever be attained to
make it remunerative at the low prices for which
alone Lace can be sold. But the inspector insists
that the children shall be sent to school, and such
short time as is allowed for school instruction in work
is not spent in teaching lace-making. So it comes
to pass that the young girls of this generation have
not learnt the work properly, and do not care to
practise it ; and the Lace that is made now, and
for which a market is anxiously sought, is made
by the old women of a former Generation between
sixty and seventy years old and more. And when
in a few years time they must have passed away,
it is to be feared that the Art of lace-making, in this
district at any rate, will have disappeared also with
them.
Great efforts have been and are still being made,
however, to save this national Art from extinction.
Exhibitions are organised, and prizes offered for
the best work by such gentry of the district as
are kindly disposed towards their poorer neigh-
bours, and whatever may be the results of these
IRISH LACES 181
efforts, much sympathy must be felt for their object.
For, apart from the fact that one must regret to see
the disappearance of any of our old English handi-
crafts, this one, as we have seen, has in former
times been a source of great interest and pride, as
well as of income, to the poor cottage women, who
otherwise have so few interests and pleasures outside
the weary round of their household and family duties.
No one who has known anything of the monotonous
life of the English peasantry could do otherwise
than regret that such an additional object of interest
should be lost to them.
IRISH LACES.
Attempts have been made at various times, both
during this century and the last, to assist the
peasantry of Ireland by instruction in lace-making,
and considerable success has often been the result.
As early as 1743 the Royal Dublin Society granted
prizes to be awarded by Lady Arabella Denny to
those who excelled in the work ; but at her death,
thirty years afterwards, the undertaking came to an
end. The experiment was again repeated with more
permanent results in 1820, and again in 1847, at the
time of the famine. It was then that crochet-work
iS2 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
was introduced ; very good patterns of old Lace were
procured, and the Irish girls soon showed great skill
in copying them. The work was vitiated by the
use of cotton instead of linen thread, .a mistake
so generally made in recent Lace revivals. Cotton
may look fairly well when first worked, but it does
not keep its firmness and colour as does pure
flax, and when washed becomes loose and woolly
in appearance.
Following crochet came a better style of wrork,
encouraged and stimulated by the " Ladies' Industrial
Society," namely, Needle-point copies of old Venetian
Lace. These were sometimes executed with a fair
amount of skill, though, for economical reasons
doubtless, the copies fell far short of the originals
in the fineness and closeness of the stitches ; where
ten stitches were put into the old work, five or
even less were made to answer the purpose in
the new.
However, the Exhibition of Irish Lace at the
Mansion House in 18S3 did much to make it known
to the purchasing public. It also encouraged those
who supervised and taught the work in Ireland to
raise their standard of excellence in the matter of
workmanship and design, and to extend the sphere
of their labours.
LIMERICK LACE 183
But it is not intended here to give any detailed
account of Lace made in convents and schools,
avowedly reproductions of old Italian originals, ex-
cellent though they often are. There are, however, two
sorts of work, now carried on in Ireland, to which
attention may be drawn as possessing some indi-
viduality, namely, the net embroideries of Limerick
and the applique and cut cambric work of Carrick-
macross. They should both be more correctly de-
scribed as embroidery than as Lace in the usual
sense of the word ; but as they have the appearance
of Lace, and are often very excellent both in effect
and design, they would seem deserving of some
notice. That known by the name of Limerick Lace
was first made in Nottingham at the time of the
invention of machine-net. The manufacture was trans-
ferred to Ireland in the year 1829 by Mr. Charles
Walker, who, while studying for Holy Orders, married
the daughter of a lace manufacturer, and either moved
by philanthropy or as a speculation, took over to
Ireland twenty-four girls to teach the work, and
settled them at Limerick. It is in reality of
French origin, being the same as the " Broderies
de Luneville" which have been produced in France
since 1800.
It is worked in two ways, either by embroidering
184 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
the pattern with a darning- stitch on the net, as
shown in the little heading to this chapter, or with
tambour stitch ; spaces left in the pattern are filled
in with ornamental "a jours" also worked on the
net.
Carrickmacross is either appliqued on net or cut
out with a ground of " brides ; " either way it is
worked on muslin. The pattern is traced with close
sewing, and the muslin is then- cut away outside the
outline. (See Illustration XLIII.)
MACHINE-MADE LACE.
In enumerating the various kinds of Lace made
in Great Britain, it would not be fair to omit all
mention of the productions of the Nottingham looms.
It is true that as imitation Lace they are considered
to rank very low in the scale of Art; but in point of
execution and as marvellous triumphs of mechanical
ingenuity, they surely invite admiration. If we
wonder at the work of the skilful hands of
the Venice and Brussels lace-m'akers, it may, from
certain points of view, be a matter of even greater
wonder that human intelligence should have com-
pelled steam and machinery to do so nearly the
same. So nearly, yet not quite.
C
H
2 B
185
MACHINE-MADE LACE 18;
The lace-making machine was evolved in Notting-
ham out of the stocking-loom ; and it will be readily
understood that the difficulty was not so much to
make the " toile" " for the pattern — the stocking stitch
was at first used as an equivalent for that — as to
modify the machinery so as to divide the threads
and produce the open net -work. The first idea
of this invention is attributed to a common factory
hand, Hammond Lindley, who, one day about the
year 1760, looking at the Pillow lace on his wife's
cap, conceived a plan by which he could copy it on
his loom. Improvements worked out by different
inventors succeeded each other, till at last, in 18 10, a
fairly good net was produced. It was called " Point
net," and in connection with it a considerable
industry sprang up in Nottinghamshire and the
surrounding district. Thousands of women were em-
ployed in embroidering on this net, both by darning
and tambour work. It is the work referred to already
in the section on Irish Lace, as now known by the
name of Limerick Lace. In the beoinnino- of this Cen-
ts o
tury this Art seems to have been practised not only in
Nottinghamshire but in many other parts of England,
for the writer has lately seen a net scarf so embroidered,
the work of an old lady upwards of eighty, still alive,
who says that she made it when a child in the village
188 OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
school at Woolhampton in Berkshire, where the work
was taught as part of the school education of the
day.
But to return to Nottingham. By the time of our
gracious Oueen's accession, not only net, but also yery
good imitations of Flemish Lace had been achieved,
and the extremely effective machine Lace of all
kinds since produced is well known.
If it should now be asked by what signs such
imitations can be detected, the answer to this inquiry
must be, to a certain extent, a negative one. Machine
lace is not made with looped stitches like Needle-
point lace, nor do we find in it the effect of plaited
threads as in Pillow lace, and where neither of these
easily recognised features can be discovered, the piece
of Lace under examination may fairly be presumed to
be imitation. As positive indications it may be ob-
served that the " toile " of Machine lace is often found
to be ribbed, like the ribbed texture of a knitted
stocking ; also that whereas old Needle and Pillow-
lace is always worked with linen thread, Machine lace
is very generally made of cotton.
It would be hopeless to attempt to describe the
various substitutes for the hand-made lace-stitches
which the machine-lace maker has invented ; they
are legion, for what he cannot achieve in one way
MACHINE-MADE LACE 189
he does in another. Nevertheless, needle-lace imi-
tations were generally till lately very easy of
detection. But where man intends to succeed diffi-
culties seldom prove insuperable. Invention this
time has come from Switzerland, and in connection
with the well-known Swiss industry of embroidery
on cambric and muslin. One Jose Heilmann, a
native of St. Gall, pondering on the work of his
wife's needle, thought to himself that if spinning,
weaving, and printing were done by machinery, then
why not embroidery? He made his wife teach him
to embroider, and in six months' time he had invented
a machine that worked with six needles at once. His
first thought was to take it to England ; but there,
though his invention had many admirers, it did not
find a purchaser. It was in 1838, at a time when
England was so far in advance of the Continental
nations of Europe in machinery, that the great heads
of the manufacturing firms thought they could afford
to despise foreign ideas.
Heilmann returned home, and a Swiss shopkeeper,
Mange, bought his machine. It was rapidly perfected,
and by 1868 hundreds of machines wrere turning out
most excellent work.
This has recently been applied to the imitation of
Venetian Point lace, with the result that a nearer
190
OF ENGLISH AND IRISH LACE
approach than ever before has been made to the
reproduction both of the needle-worked " toile " and
also of the "bride" work.
Yet, when so much is conceded, % there re-
mains the indubitable fact that the productions
of machinery can never possess the charm of the
real hand-made work. Musicians tell us that the
performance of a piano-organ, even the most per-
fected of its kind, is flat - and uninteresting as
compared with the music produced by a fairly good
performer. Even so with Lace made by machinery ;
the most perfect must by reason of its very perfec-
tion lack the impression of life which the very faults
and irregularities of human handiwork can alone
produce. We are so made that the imperfect even,
pleases us more than the perfect, if it tells us that
human beings have expended time and zeal in their
efforts after perfection.
oi<l English Bobbins and a Lace Token.
A SUMMARY
As a summary of what has been written in the fore-
going chapters, the following few simple statements
may be found useful : —
i. Lace worked out of linen, though originating in
Italy, was also worked with no great variation of
style in Spain, France, and England, and in the
Greek islands ; the designs are usually geometrical.
(See p. 24.)
2. The words " Point lace," properly used, signify
Needle lace only, and are misused when applied to
any Pillow lace whatever. (See p. xv.)
3. The earliest Point lace was made with " brides."
It was chiefly made in Venice. Some was produced
at Alencon for a short time during the latter half of
the seventeenth century in imitation of Venetian
Point, and some may have been made in Spain.
4. Point lace with "brides" was not made in
Flanders. (See p. 139.)
191
1 92 A SUMMARY
5. Point lace with a "reseau" ground was in-
vented and chiefly made at Alencon. The style was
adopted, both in Brussels and Venice, towards the
close of the eighteenth century. Brussels Needle lace
is most frequently grounded with a Pillow "reseau."
(See pp. 98, 143.)
6. The most marked distinction between Point and
Pillow lace is that in the former the solid parts are
seen to be made of looped button-hole stitches, while
that of the latter resembles woven cambric or cloth
in texture. (See p. 6.)
7. Pillow lace divides itself into two classes, accord-
ing to the method of its construction.
(1) When the pattern is worked by itself on the
pillow and the "reseau" ground is worked in after-
wards to fit round it. (See p. 82.) To this class
belong " Punto di Milano," Brussels Pillow lace, and
Honiton Lace.
(2) When the Lace is made all in one piece on the
pillow, the same threads forming both "toile" and
"reseau" alike. (See p. 127.) To this class belong
the Italian peasant Laces, all French Pillow lace,
all Flemish Pillow lace, except Brussels, and all
English Lace except Honiton.
A SUMMARY 193
8. Pillow lace made with " brides " is earlier in
point of date than that made with a "reseau" ground.
(See p. 122.)
9. Various Pillow laces are to be distinguished
from each other chiefly by the construction of their
" reseau." (See p. 7.)
10. Machine-made Lace was invented towards the
end of the last century, and was not perfected till the
beginning of this century. (See p. 187.) Any Lace,
therefore, known to be older than 1800 must be either
Point or Pillow lace.
THE END
2 C
INDEX
A
Adriatic, 49.
Aix-la-Chapelle, 113.
A jours, xv, .71, 81, 98, 114,
J75-
Alb, Cardinal's, 38.
Alencon, 9, 13, 50, 55, 61, 97,
139, 140, 191, 192.
— Point de, 91.
Altar frontal, 38.
Alva, Duke of, 172.
Ampthill Park, 171.
Angleterre, 92.
Annual Register, 172.
Antwerp, 147, 158.
Annunciation, 158.
Applique, xv, 136, 167.
Aprons, 3}, 37.
Arachne, 10.
Argentan, 102.
Argentella, 98.
Athene, 11.
R
Baby lace, 175.
Bayeux, 1 14.
Bedfordshire, 165, 171, 172.
Bed-straw, 177,
Belgium, 12, 67, 68, 102, 122.
Berkshire, 188.
151,
102,
Binche, 147, 152.
Birds, 19.
Blonde, 63, 114, 117, 179.
Board of Education, 1 79.
Bobbins, xv, 1, 6, 60, 176, 177, 178,
179.
Bolbec, 118.
Bolckow, Mrs., 42.
Bolster, 60, 162.
Bone, xv, 176.
— lace, xv, 33, 165, 172, 176.
Border lace, 75 76.
Bosse, Abraham, 96.
Braid, 27, 38.
Breeches, 37.
" Brides," xv, 2, 5, 42, 45, 46, 63, 7 1,
72, 76, 97, 122, 136, 139, 184, 191,
193-
"Brides picotees," 32, 49, 71, 132.
" Bride "-work, 42, 105, 190.
Broderies de Luneville, 183.
Brussels, 12, 13, 148, 166, 167, 168,
184, 192.
- Lace, 59, 62, 126-147, 148,
168.
— Needle lace, 192.
- Point, 139, 140.
— Pillow lace, 126, 127, 128, 192.
- Point, 140, 143, 147.
plat applique, 157
195
196
INDEX
Buckinghamshire. 157, 165, 171,
172, 175, 178, 179.
Burano, 12, 41, 55, 56, 59, 61.
— Point, 61.
Button-hole stitch, 2, 5, 23, 36, 42,
61, 67, 101, 102, 140. 192.
Byzantine, 19.
— mosaics, 64.
C
Caen, 114.
Calvados, 1 17.
Canons, 37.
Cantu, 81.
Caps, 37.
Cardinal's Alb, 38.
— Point, 38.
Carnation, 106, 151, 158.
Carnival lace, 38.
Carrickmacross, 183, 184.
Catalonia, 63.
Catherine of Aragon, 171.
— , Queen, 172.
Ceccia la Scarpariola, 56, 59.
Chantilly, 114, 117.
Charles the First, 36.
— the Second, 38.
Chichester, Lady Hamilton, 88.
Church furniture, 27.
- linen, 28.
Cluny, 179.
Col rabattu, 36.
Colbert, 91, 97.
Cole, Mr. Alan, 125.
Collar lace, 75.
( lollars, 32.
Cologne, 34-
( lommonwealth, The, [66.
Coques, Gonzales, 125.
Coral, 49.
Coraline Point, 49.
Cord, xv.
Cordonnet, xv, 16. 42. 45, 61,
63, 101, 102, 1*14, 140, 148,
167.
Corfu, 24.
Cotton, 14, 179, 182.
Coverlets, 38.
Crochet work, 181.
Cuffs, 33, 37.
Cut-work, 5, 10, 13, 15, 23, 24,
27, 28, 31, 34, 35, 161, 162,
165, 171.
U
Dalmatian coast, 96.
Darned netting, 1, 6, 15, 19, 125,
126.
Darning stitch, 184.
Denny, Lady Arabella, 181.
Dentelle au fuseau, xv.
— d'Angleterre, 95.
— noire, 95.
Devonshire, 166, 167, 168.
Dieppe, 117, 118.
Distaff, 14.
Dogs, 19.
Drawn-work, 5, 15, 16, 23.
Dublin, Royal Society, 181.
I hiohesse lace, 168.
— Point, 136.
Ecru, 1 14.
Elizabeth, Queen, 11, 12, 33, 161,
[65, [72.
INDEX
197
Elizabeth Mackett, 165.
Embroidered netting, 35.
Embroideries, 33, 92.
Embroidery, 14, 23, 165, 189.
Empire, The, 12, 98, 117,
152.
England, 132, 151, 165, 166,
167, 172, J87, 189, 191.
English Lace, 161-181, 192.
Eu, 118.
Exhibition of Irish Lace, 182.
— International, 168.
Fambri, M. Paulo, 56.
Fecamps, 1 18.
Fishbones, 176.
Flanders, 13, 68, 95, 113, 117, 121,
122, 139, 158, 165, 166, 167, 172,
191.
Flandres, 92.
Flaxen, 1 14.
Flemish Lace, 75, 121-160, 188.
— pillow lace, 192.
— Provinces, 68, 71, 97.
Florence, 87.
Fond chant, 114, 148, 158.
— clair, 1 13.
- de brides, 126.
- de neige, 148, 152.
— simple, 113, 114.
France, 37, 49, 63, 68, 102, 117, 132,
139, 183, 191.
— , Isle de, 106. *
French lace, 91 -119.
French pillow lace, 192.
Frontal, altar, 38.
G
Genoa, 13, 64, 75, 76, 88, 98, 165.
Genoese collar lace, 87.
- Lace, 75, 179.
— tape guipure, 76, 81.
Geometrical, 14, 15, 23, 31.
George the First, 135.
George the Second, 135.
Gerrardo, Marc, 33.
Gheltof, Urbani, 60.
Gimp, xv, 38, 92.
Gold, 27, 33, 35.
Great Marlow, 176.
Greek Islands, 19, 24, 191.
— Lace, 13, 15,24.
Gros point, 49.
de Venise, 38, 41, 42, 45.
Gueuse, 92, 95.
Guiper, xv.
Guipure, xv, 38, 63, 72, 92.
— d'Art, 20.
— facon d'Angleterre, 1 39.
H
Hand-looms, 14.
made lace, 1, 178.
— spun thread, 128.
Hathaway, Anne, 162.
Havre, 118.
Head-dresses, 32.
Heilmann, Jose, 189.
Hemstitch, 24, 32.
Henry the Fourth, 1 13.
— the Eighth, 11, 171.
High Wycombe, 176.
Holbein, 1 1.
198
INDEX
Holland, 125.
Honeycomb a jours, 98.
Honfleur, 118.
Honiton, 165, 167, 168, 192.
— Lace, 165, 192.
— point, xv.
Horse-hair, 101.
Horses, 19.
Huguenots, 113.
Hunsdon, Lord, 33.
I
Industrial Society, Ladies', 182.
Ionian Islands, 13, 24, 27.
Ireland, 181, 183.
Irish Lace, 161, 181-184, l%7-
Exhibition of, 182.
Isle de France, 106.
Italian Lace, 13, 14-88, 121,
122.
— Needle lace, 14-63.
- Peasant lace, 82, 87, 192.
— Pillow lace, 64-88, 122.
Italy, 15, 37, 45, 67, 68, 75, 171,
191.
Italy, North, 13.
J
James the First, 36, 161.
K
Kattern's day, 171.
King (of Italy;, 56.
Knotted lace, 64.
work, 35.
Knots, xv.
L
Lace chest, 178.
— makers, 60, 117, 143, 151, 152,
172.
— making, 12, 13,61, 105, 135, 139.
— pillow, 178.
— tokens, 177, 190.
— workers, 135, 167, 172.
Lacis, 1, 15, 19, 125.
Ladies' Industrial Society, 182.
La Fontaine, 101.
Lamb, 20.
Larfnes, Seme de, 10 1.
Lawne cut-work, 33.
Lead, xv.
Leather boots, y].
Lely, Sir Peter, 125.
Le Puy, 114.
Lille, 113, 114, 175.
Limerick, 183.
— Lace, 183, 187.
Lindley, Hammond, 187.
Linen, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 23, 24, 27,
31,32,35,38,45.71, 161, 162, 171,
179, 191.
Longueville, Duchesse de, 117.
Lonray, 97.
Louis the Fourteenth, yj^ 91.
— the Fifteenth, 132.
— the Sixteenth, 98.
Louvain, 1 1.
Machine lace, 1, 178, 184-190, 193.
-made net, 135, 136, 143, 167,
168.
Mackett, Elizabeth, 165.
Macrame, 64, 67.
INDEX
199
Malines, 148.
— a brides, 151.
Maltese Lace, 88, 179.
Mange, 189.
Mansion House, 182.
Mantillas, 1 17.
Mantua, Princess of, 32.
Marcello, Countess Adriana, 59.
Marie Antoinette, 151.
Marq, Catherine de, 97.
Mary Tudor, Queen, 11.
Matsys, Quintin, 11, 67.
Mechlin, 9, 113, 147, 148, 151, 175.
Mediaeval, 14, 15.
Medicis ruff, 32.
Merletto a maglia, 19.
Merletti a Piombini, xv.
Mezzo punto, 71, 72.
Milan, 81.
Milanese pillow lace, 81.
Mixed lace, 71, 132.
Moorish taste, 19.
Museum, Hotel Cluny, 179.
— of the Arsenal, Venice, 67.
— British, 35.
— South Kensington, 20, 34, 38, 42,
45, 121, 125, 165.
Mythical animals, 19.
N
Nantes, Edict of, 172.
Naples, 72, 87.
National Portrait Gallery, 11.
Needle lace, 12, 13, 19, 23, 27, 71,
102, 143, 165, 191.
— Point lace, 1, 2, 5, 6, 13, 20, 28,
59, 72.
Needle Point, 31, 75, 91, 98, 132,
136, 144, 182.
Needlework, xv.
Network, 6, 16, 187.
Newport Pagnel, 176.
Normandy, 1 17.
Nottingham, 135, 183, 184, 187, 188,
Nottinghamshire, 187
O
(Eil de Perdrix, 148.
Olney, 176.
Oncagnia, Signor, 35.
Oriental, 19.
Pagan, Matthio, 35.
Palliser, Mrs., 34, 56, 88, 98, 152.
Parchment, 46, 72.
— lace, 176.
— patterns, 10, 60.
Paris, 34, 106, 117.
Passemens, La Revoke des, 92.
Pattern books, 34.
Peasant lace, 82, 87.
Pelican, 20.
Picots, xv, 2, 5, 24, 42, 45, 71, 81,
"3-
Pillow, 5, 60, 127, 135, 147, 175, 177,
178.
— cases, 28, 38.
— Guipure, 68, 71, 72, 75, 82, 121,
126.
— lace, xv, 1, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 33, 64,
67, 68, 71, 75>8l>82, 97, 102, 105,
122, 126, 128, 139, 143, 147, 165,
166, 167, 171, 172, 187, 188, 191,
192, 193.
200
INDEX
Pillow lace making, 117.
Plaited lace, 76.
Point, xv.
— applique, 143, 144.
— coupe, 23.
— d'Alencon, 61, 91, 95, 98,
101.
— d'Angleterre, xv, 62, 131, 132,
143, 151, 165, 167.
a brides, 132.
— d'Argentan, 59, 102.
— de Canaille, 71.
— d'Espagne, 38, 62.
— de France, 97.
— de Gaze, 140, 144, 147.
— de Genes, 92.
frise, 76.
— de Xeige, 45.
— de Paris, 106, 114.
— de Raguse, 92, 96.
— de Yenise, 38, 92.
a reseau, 41, 50.
— duchesse, 136.
- lace, xv, 6, 9, 36, 37, 72, 191, 192,
193-
— net, 187.
— plat, 41, 49-
applique, 136.
de Venise, 41.
Pompe, Le, 67.
Pope, The, 56, 171.
Pope's Point, 38.
Pot Lace, 158.
Potten Kant, 158.
Protestants, 166.
Punto a festone, 5, 36.
a groppo, 64.
a maglia, 1, 19, '-5-
Punto di Burano, 41.
— di Genoa, 23, 36, 75, 76,
81.
— di Milano, xv, 81, 82, 192.
— di Yenezia, 37.
— in Aria, 31, 32, 35, 36.
— tagliato, 23.
foliami, 37, 38, 41.
— tirato, 16.
Q
Queen, The, 188.
— (of Italy), 56, 59, 61.
R
Ragusa, 92, 96.
Raised Yenetian Point, 38, 41,
42.
Renaissance, 14, 15, 20, 45, 71, 105,
106, 121, 122, 140.
Reseau, xv, 2, 5, 6, 16, 55, 60, 61,
72, 82, 97, 98, joi, 102, 105, 106,
113, 114, 122, 125,- 126, 128, 131,
135, 136, 139, Mo, 143, H4, 148,
151, I52, 157, 167, 168, 175, 192,
193-
— , vrai, 131, 135, 143, 144.
Reticella, 5, 15, 23, 24, 27, 28, 32,
36, 171.
Revolution, The French, 12, 55, 113,
117, 118, 135, 152.
Richard the Third, 27.
Rococo, 14, 15, 16, 55.
Rome, 87.
Rope stitch, 23.
Rose, 151.
Rose point, 38, 41, 45, 46.
KnM>. 98.
INDEX
201
Rosettes, 57, 45.
Rousseau, J. J., 12.
Rubens, 75.
Ruff, Medicis, 32.
Ruffs, 12, 33, 34, 161.
Samplers, 162, 172.
Satin stitch, 23.
School Inspector, 180.
Seed pearls, ^}.
Seguin, M., 68, 132.
Sevigne, Madame de, 92.
Shakespeare's wife, 162.
Sheeps' trotters, 176.
Sheets, 28, 87, 162.
Shoes, ^7.
Shottery, 162.
Silk, 16, 19, 20, 27, 35, 45.
— , black, 88, 179.
— lace, 179.
— , white, 88.
Silver, 27, 33, 35.
Sleeves, 37.
South Kensington, 68.
Spain, 19, 37, 41, 49, '7i, 191
Spaniards, 63.
Spanish lace, 62.
— mantillas, 63, 117.
— Point, 13, 15, 41, 62.
Spider lace, 175.
Stalks, xv.
St. Catherine's day, 171.
St. Gall, 189.
St. Germains, 95.
St. John in Yaletta, 88.
2 I)
Stocking loom, 187.
Stony Stratford, 176.
St. Peter Louvain, 1 1.
Sully, 1 13.
Switzerland, 189.
Table-cloths, 28, 87.
— covers, 38.
— linen, 33, 161.
Tambour stitch, 184.
Tape, xv, 38, 71, 72, 75.
— guipure, 76, 81 .
Ties, xv.
Toile, xv, 2, 5, 102, 127, 128, 1 3 r ,
140, 144, 152, 189, 190, 192.
Torchon, 92, 179.
Towels, 28, 87.
Treadwin, Mrs., 166.
Trolle, 175.
— Kant, 157.
Trolly, 157, 167, 175-
— lace, 167.
Trousse, Mdlle. de la, 92.
Truchet, Rev. Pere, 34.
V
Valenciennes, 10, 82, 102, 105, 117,
118, 131, 157.
— , Fausse, 106.
— , les eternelles, 106.
— , vraie, 105, io5, 157.
Vandyke, 36, 75.
Vandykes, 32.
Venetian dominions, 96.
— lace, 41, 42, 50, 92, 182.
202
INDEX
Venetian point, 15, 37, 38, 41, 49,
62, 72, 97, 189, 191.
— Point, flat, 41, 46.
grounded, 4 r, 50, 55.
raised, 41, 42, 59, 62.
— Republic, 24, 55.
Venice, 12, 13, 19, 35, 36, 41, 49, 56,
61, 67, 75, 92, 96, 121, 139, 191,
192.
Verbiest, Fraulein, 125.
Vertue, 33.
Vetturino, 87.
Vinciolo, [26.
Virgin, The, 158.
W
Waist scarves, 37.
Walker, Mr. Charles, 183.
Warwickshire, 162.
Weaving, 6, 20.
Westminster Abbey, 38, 162.
Wheat, Ears of, 76, 88.
White lead, 144.
Wood, xv.
Woolhampton, 188.
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 172.
Y
Ypres, 10, 102, 147, 157.
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